Houghton—Ella Phelps Woolsey of Houghton died on Thursday,
March 29, 2018 in the Absolut at Houghton Nursing Home. She was born on
December 26, 1922 in Batavia, a daughter of the late Harvey and Viola Woolf
Phelps. On August 23, 1946 in Indian Falls, New York she married Warren M.
Woolsey, who recently preceded her in death. They were devoted, loving partners
for 71 years. Ella grew up on family farms operated by the Phelps brothers and
their wives in Indian Falls. She attended high school in Akron, New York, then
enrolled at Houghton College, graduating in 1943. After college she accepted a
faculty position at Allen Home High School in Asheville, North Carolina, a
boarding and day school for African-American women whose graduates include the
renowned musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone. Teaching in what was
then the deeply segregated South, Ella helped her students navigate the
indignities and pain of blatant racial discrimination, also coaching the
school’s basketball team which went to the state championship. As was always
her way, she gave all the credit to the young women. After she married Warren
Woolsey, recently returned from active service as an airman in World War II,
the couple moved to New York City so that Warren could pursue a seminary
education, which included a ministry practicum in the Appalachian Mountains of
eastern Kentucky where they worked together, often visiting people in the
remote “hollows” on horseback. In 1950 they accepted a call to missionary
service in Sierra Leone, West Africa; they ministered there until 1966. Ella
especially loved her work with women and children, teaching the women to read,
assisting nurses in dispensing medications and delivering babies, and
supporting women’s institutes meant to foster spiritual formation and strong
marriages.
When they returned to the United States with their family in
1966 they settled in Houghton. Ella joined the faculty of Rushford Central
School and was a much-beloved fourth grade teacher. Many former students still
describe her as their favorite teacher ever. She was also an active member of
Houghton Wesleyan Church, finding special joy working with children in the
nursery and young women in Pioneer Girls.
For almost 30 years while Warren taught at Houghton College
Ella served as a kind, loving, wise counselor and mentor to generations of
young women. She had a gift for hospitality and was an excellent cook and baker
who often invited college students and campus guests to join the family for
dinner. After retiring from teaching Ella was an active in-home visitor with
the Allegany County hospice program. She loved to garden and took special
delight in wildflowers, fall foliage, and the wooded hills and fields of
western New York.
To the very end of her life Ella was devoted to her children
and their spouses, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and also to a
ministry of prayer. She never lost her kind, loving, positive outlook on life.
Before his death in December 2017, looking back on decades of partnership with
Ella in life and ministry, Warren declared, “we made a good team.” It is
characteristic of Ella that among her very last words were “thank you” to those
caring for her at Absolut.
Surviving are the couple’s children, Stephen (Linda) Woolsey
of Rushford, Matthew (Barbara) of Houghton, Ruth (Stephen) Strand of Buffalo, a
daughter-in-law Kathleen Woolsey of Connecticut, eight grandchildren, two
great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.
In addition to her parents, husband, and three siblings,
Ella was preceded in death by a son, Dr. Daniel P. Woolsey, on October 21,
2017, and a grandchild, Molly Woolsey, in 2016.
Family and friends may gather from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on
Friday, April 6, 2018 at the Kopler-Williams Funeral Home, 21 N. Genesee
Street, Fillmore, and from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 7 at the
Houghton Wesleyan Church, followed by a funeral service at 11:00 a.m. Rev. Dr.
Wesley Oden will officiate. Burial will be in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery,
Houghton.
Memorials, if desired, may be made to the Houghton Wesleyan
Church, the Allegany County Area Foundation Dollars for Scholars program, c/o
Student Scholarship Fund or the Child Education fund of World Hope
International.
