In Memoriam : Ellen Townley

Ellen Townley Ellen Loretta Townley - age: 80
(November 17, 1941 to March 06, 2022 )
Resident of Fresno, California

Visitation Information:
Graveside Service will take place at the Exeter District Cemetery Tuesday March 22, 2022 at 2:00 pm.

Obituary:
Loretta, as she preferred to be called, was born November 17, 1941, in Wilburton, Oklahoma. She was the second of ten children born to Leroy Elzie Cook and Edna Celeste Pace of Oklahoma. In 1944 her family relocated to Farmersville, CA where she grew up and attended school. Her father worked as a farm laborer and when Loretta wasn’t helping in the fields picking cotton or other crops, she was kept busy helping her mother with household chores and tending to her younger siblings. She married Billy Brown in 1957 at age 15 and from this union two children were born, Rhonda and Michael. She married Cliff Martin in 1961 at age 19 and gave birth to three more children, Darrel, Cheryl, and Gina. Her third marriage was to Jack Townley in 1970 and they resided in Exeter. She was widowed in May 2002 after Jack died from lung cancer. She was a homemaker and a former employee of Sunkist Growers in Exeter. After she retired, she obtained her high school GED and then completed a business degree from San Joaquin Valley College in Visalia. While raising her family she taught herself to cook, bake pies and make candy. There was always an evening meal on the table, and she cooked a family breakfast every weekend. A favorite weekend breakfast for her children was chocolate gravy and biscuits. She enjoyed reading and taught herself to sew, knit, crochet, and macramé. She was quiet by nature but very strong willed and survived many hardships and health issues throughout her life. She died at Saint Agnes Hospital in Fresno from Covid on March 6th at the age of 80. She is survived by her two daughters Cheryl Jones and her husband Robert and Gina Schmidt and her husband Steve, nine grandchildren, great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her five siblings Johnny, Janet, Jimmy, Sandra, and Kim as well as their spouses. Loretta was predeceased by her parents Elzie and Edna Cook, her three husbands, her siblings Leon, Barbara, Jackie, and Keith, and her children Darrel, Michael, and Rhonda. A Graveside Service will take place Tuesday March 22, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. at the Exeter District Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.evansmillerguinnchapel.com. Arrangements entrusted to Evans Miller Guinn Chapel.