Elsie Guilford

Elsie Guilford

October 18, 1923 - December 28, 2023

Knoxville - Elsie Jennette Hargreaves Guilford, age 100, of Knoxville, TN, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, died on December 28, 2023, and now abides in her true home with Jesus.

Elsie was born on October 18, 1923 in Santa Monica, California. At the early age of seven, she learned to cope with loss when her mother Alice Crellin Hargreaves passed away. She was raised by her father and educated at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California, as were her three children. She married her beloved husband Howard Owens Guilford on February 21, 1942, and in their years together they enjoyed many happy times including travel in their motor home and square dancing on the Great Wall of China.

She retired in 1985 after 22 years with the Santa Monica Schools Employees Federal Credit Union. She and Howard moved to Guadalupe in 2001 and enjoyed 65 years together until Howard passed in 2007. She moved to Knoxville, Tennessee and resided in independent retirement communities there. She spent many years in service to community organizations, and often served in leadership roles. She was a life-long Episcopalian, served on the PTA, Cub Scouts, and Eastern Star Ocean Park Chapter 245. She was also Guardian of Job's Daughters Bethel 228. She was a member of the Salvation Army Womens' Auxiliary, a member of PEO Chapter R Santa Monica, as well as PEO Chapter AH Knoxville. She volunteered for eight years as a reading tutor for first graders at Mary Buren Elementary School in Guadalupe, CA through the Gen-Span Foundation. She was a member of the Guadalupe Library Board of Directors, Guadalupe Women's VFW Auxiliary, and she volunteered at the Guadalupe Food Bank. She was a member of several writing groups and wrote many poems and stories, published by her family. Her hobbies included knitting, crocheting, sewing, making recycled cards, and art journaling, and more.

Elsie delighted in time spent with her family and many friends, especially her daughter Elaina Gutierrez, her husband Adolfo, and their daughter Sarah, (Knoxville, TN), her son Andrew Guilford and his wife Loreen (Trabuco Canyon, CA), and Cheryl Guilford, the wife of son Jeffrey (Knoxville, TN). She dearly loved her two grandsons, four granddaughters, and 14 great-grandchildren. She was greatly loved, kind, talented, witty, wise, and very well-organized until the very end.

Her service will be held on January 27, 2024 at 2:00 at the church of her grandson and his wife, Deacons Brad and Joy Guilford, Old North Abbey Anglican Church, 2537 Fairmont Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37917. To honor Elsie's time spent volunteering for the Salvation Army, donations may be made to a local chapter of the Salvation Army. Click Funeral Home Farragut Chapel 11915 Kingston Pike is serving the Guilford family