Margaret Elaine Russell

Margaret Elaine Russell was born on October 1, 1926 at Arizona Deaconess Hospital (now St. Joseph's Hospital) in Phoenix, Arizona. She was the first born of Fred Russell and Ida Amanda Nelson. She was born prematurely, weighing about four pounds at birth.

The name on her birth certificate was Ida Elaine, but on her church and school records it was always Margaret Elaine. This was discovered while she was in her fifties. Her father stated the birth certificate had been hastily prepared, so the certificate was officially amended to Margaret Elaine. Her father liked the name Elaine from the stories of the Knights of the Round Table, and the name Margaret came from her grandmother, Margaret Foutz.

At the time of Elaine's birth her parents were living in Springerville, in a home that her mother had built before her marriage earlier that year. They moved to Phoenix and after her father graduated from Arizona Normal College (now Arizona State University) as a school teacher, the family moved to Pinedale where he taught school. She remembers walking through the forest to school, hand in hand with her father and younger brother, Freddy, as the happiest time in her life.

Elaine also had three younger sisters, Caroldene, Jeanne, and Beverly Ann. Freddy died when Elaine was nine when they were living in Clifton, and Beverly Anne died a few months later when the family had moved to Thatcher. Elaine contracted rheumatic fever and had to stay in bed for a year, which was at the time they were living in Thatcher. Her father carried her to the bathroom and she had to learn to walk again.

The Russell family moved frequently, living in Showlow, Pinedale, Globe, Lebanon or Cactus and Safford. Her mother always worked, selling corsets all over Apache county, leaving Elaine in charge of the children. While in Lebanon, they lived in an old adobe house built by her grandfather Russell.

Elaine graduated from high school in Safford, working part time as a night nurse for an osteopathic physician, Dr. Spencer Ellsworth and as a waitress at the Star Cafe.

Elaine met Lamro Hoopes when he returned from his mission and just before he left to serve in Italy during the Second World War. They wrote during his three years of Army duty and were married in December, 1945, shortly after his return.

The newly weds moved into a rent house belonging to Elaine's parents. A year later their first child, John, was born, and they moved to Thatcher to live in a new house that Lamro built on First Street, one block west of his dad's place. Three other children were born to them, Jean, Jan and Fred. While John and Fred were serving missions in Italy, Elaine worked at the nursing home in Safford.

Elaine enrolled in the nursing program at Eastern Arizona College, and earned her EMT credential. She has provided nursing care for many elderly people. One of them, Carilla, lived on a ranch at Klondyke, so Elaine stayed there caring for this elderly woman until she died. Many people in the Gila Valley called Elaine to care for their elderly parents, as she was known as an excellent care giver. Her father and step-mother moved to a home across the street from hers in Thatcher, and she provided round the clock care for them until her father died in 1993.

Elaine has served in many church callings, including being on the Stake Sunday School board, auxiliary teacher and Ward Librarian. She sews well and is an excellent cook and hopes to serve a full time mission.