Ellen Crocker Wendt (Lewis)

Ellen Joyce Crocker was born on November 25, 1931, in Adamsville, AL to Robert Cleveland Crocker and Nellie Aurelia Crocker (Stiff). At the age of 2, she moved with her parents to Texas where she lived in Pelly, Old Ocean, and finally in Markham, where she grew up with her younger sister, Gail.

Ellen was a member of the first class to graduate from Tidehaven High School in 1950, where she was the drum major. She left south Texas to travel the world and enjoyed living in Bogota, Colombia for a brief time. She was married and divorced twice, and at the age of 87, moved back to Bay City to marry her first love, Dan Wendt.

Ellen was a devoted housewife for many years, worked in the oil industry, real estate, and title industry, but found her niche later in life working with severely handicapped children in the McKinney, Birdville, and Hurst-Euless-Bedford school districts, and at Glad Tidings School in Wilmington, NC. She finally retired at 80 years of age.

Mumsie, as she was known to many, was a loving grandmother attending many school events and graduations. She loved visits from her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved sewing, decorating, and shopping and had an excellent eye for fashion and décor. She was sassy and humorous and had a lifelong interest in other countries and cultures.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, James Daniel Wendt. She is survived by her sister, Myra Gail Janssen and nephew, Otto (Rocky) Janssen III of Bay City, four children, Lynn Robinson Wayman (Max) of Fort Worth, Laura Robinson Woychesin (Brent) of McKinney, Sidney Lewis Cooke (Jim) of Spring Branch, and Melissa Lewis Mathis (Jim) of Northlake. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren, Brian (Amanda) Wood, Mark (Casey) Wood, Jennifer (Tom) Reeves, Adam Wood, Chris (Jami) Woychesin, Victoria Snyder, Matthew (Kayla) Snyder, Samuel (Claire) Snyder, Ethan Snyder, Caroline (Trevor) Murray, Alex Snyder, Abigail (Ben) Ommen, and Joel Buckley, along with 18 great-grandchildren.

The family would like to thank the staff at Good Samaritan Lake Forest Village in Denton for their excellent care and kindness, and the doctors and nurses of the cardiac wing at Medical City Denton. Ellen is interred at Cedarvale Cemetery in Bay City, TX.