Doris Elaine Dancer

DANCER, Doris 'Elaine' Cooper Parton was born September 26, 1937, in Dewey, Oklahoma, and left her earthly home to meet the Lord Jesus Christ on August 12, 2025. She was born to Peter Milton Cooper and Lucile Bostic-Cooper. After Elaine's father passed away, when she was a young girl, her mother married Paul Webber, who was a loving stepfather to Elaine and her six siblings. Elaine epitomized love, grace, and class. She leaves behind treasured memories and a lifetime of love. She will be remembered for her joy, infectious laughter, a prayer warrior and her unshakable Christian faith and a legacy of love for all humanity.
Along with her six siblings, Elaine grew up in a loving and Godly home. The family often gathered around the kitchen table telling stories with unending laughter. She was valedictorian of her graduating class at Dewey High School in the spring of 1955, and she married James William Parton on August 21, 1955. Together, they lived in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Florida while Jim prepared for the ministry and then later enlisted in the United States Navy. Elaine was a supportive Navy wife while Jim was in the service. In the early 1960s they settled in Garland, Texas, where they purchased their first home. Elaine always welcomed friends and family, she loved gathering and hosting parties. In May of 1963, they welcomed a beloved and cherished son, James Duane Parton. She was thrilled as she longed to be a mother. Elaine spent more than 50 years living in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Elaine's pursuit of excellence, strong work ethic, and trail-blazing fortitude, which she cultivated during her formative years, would prove to serve her well throughout her life. She also had a deep desire all would come to know Jesus through his saving grace. Her faith was an extension of who she was in public and in private.
While in high school, Elaine worked at Dewey Dime and Dollar, a local dime store. She walked to work, often during the bitter winter, in the snow. She would say, 'I had a responsibility to fulfill, and I was there to get my job done and walking in the snow was not going to stop me.'
After she and Jim moved to Tennessee in the mid-1950s, she started working at Helen of Memphis, a local upscale clothier where she helped ladies dress in style. Of course, she 'dressed to the nines' to be an example. With her exemplary work ethic, and dynamic personality, she quickly rose through the ranks working in the business office before moving to Florida.
In the late 1950s, she worked at a local bank in Sanford, Florida while Jim was in the Navy. There she worked as a bank teller and helped wherever she was needed. Elaine always had a 'can-do' attitude, strong work ethic, and dynamic personality, all of which earned her several promotions.
Elaine started in direct sales with Sarah Coventry Jewelry in the early 1960s as a hobby as most women did not work outside the home at that time. The direct sales business model was just coming into its own and she was too. Her dynamic personality and genuine love for others made her a natural success in the business. While balancing motherhood and being a wife, she hosted parties and sold jewelry. Before too long, she built a team with hundreds of women. She had an innate ability to create and foster an environment motivating women and showing them how they could build a successful career by empowering others. She received numerous awards, recognition, accolades and earned trips while working at Sarah Coventry. She rose through the ranks but always with a focus on others first. Her motto was 'if they succeed, she would too' and they did.
In the early 1970s, Dr. Bill Coats, the 'father of Aloe Vera' hired her for his company, Alonique, then later she worked with AvaCare. Elaine experienced tremendous success with both companies. She worked closely with cosmetic chemists to develop a product line as well as establishing a marketing plan for direct sales consultants nationwide that proved to be an integral part of the success of both companies. She spoke in front of thousands of people at national conventions. She recruited and trained sales consultants throughout the United States and Europe; on one occasion, she trained sales consultants, in Spain, through an interpreter. She educated and empowered multitudes of people on the benefits of Aloe Vera. Today, the ingredients in Aloe Vera account for a broad range of health benefits in every day products.
In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Elaine worked for the Luzier Personalized Cosmetic Company as National Direct Sales Manager and later as Vice President of Marketing. With her extensive sales and management experience, she was an integral part of the success of the company. She traveled across the United States recruiting and training sales consultants, conducting management training and motivational seminars. She had an innate ability to encourage and motivate multitudes of women to succeed and feel confident. She was also a consultant for Luzier for many years.
Elaine took her award-winning sales skills to the senior industry where she worked at three Dallas area senior communities in the 2000s, each time as their marketing director. She transformed each building to a sense of community with her remarkable people skills and tender touch. She visited with the residents, often, expressing a kind word or touching someone's shoulder letting them know how important they were to her. She was always about people. Elaine spoke on relevant topics pertaining to seniors. She was often interviewed on the Mature Living Choices Radio Show in the Dallas/Ft. Worth region.
She also collaborated with her dear friend, Jeanne, with The Wonderful World of Cooking. For a brief period, Elaine also owned a home décor and jewelry business where she hosted parties for family and friends. She treated her guest like royalty and displayed the merchandise with attention to the finest detail.
Before retiring, she worked at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas where she sold burial niches for the Shepherd's Garden as well as preparing and coordinating funerals at the church. She was meticulous with the smallest details and was an integral part of making the Shepherd's Garden the beautiful reflection garden that we know today.
November 16, 1996, she married the Reverend, Dr. Dudley Dancer, her dear friend, and pastor she had met many years earlier in the 1960s. They had been longtime friends all those years ago and were now deeply in love and thrilled the Lord brought them together to enjoy their later years. He adored her as she did him. He was the husband and father she and Duane had longed for. Duane had the daddy he had always wanted for two years before he died in 1998. Elaine and Dudley became grandparents, a role they cherished.
Elaine served alongside Dudley in his pastoral responsibilities as Associate Pastor at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. She felt Dudley's responsibilities, at the church, were a partnership as she was often seen greeting parishioners at the evening service. It was important to her that everyone felt welcome and loved. When Dudley was no longer able to continue his weekly Bible study group at a law firm in downtown Dallas, Elaine picked up where he left off. She held the same weekly Bible studies strengthening people in God's word, offering encouragement and prayer for them.
She loved being with her dear friends, Dot and Sylivia, enjoying each other's company and praying. They are now together in heaven. They had a deep desire to tell everyone about the saving grace of Jesus, love others well and have fun in the meantime.
Elaine was a published author; In 2013, she wrote the book, It's All About Love, where she chronicles her loving journey, with her son, through the ravages of AIDS to the riches of heaven. She made you laugh and cry and shake your head as she revealed the unvarnished truth of her life and her unconditional love for her only son, Duane and coming back to his faith.
Elaine put her faith into action. On one occasion, she gave $2,000.00 toward building a local church in a village in India. Today, that church reaches hundreds of local people weekly with the truth of God's word. God is in the multiplication business.
Elaine was part of a larger group, at her church, where she visited and spoke to men in prison in the North Texas area. She often referred to them as her 'men in white.' She made a difference in their life as she had an innate ability to love and welcome them where they were on their journey. Praying for and encouraging them was a natural extension of her love for them. They learned to love and pray for her.
Elaine was gracious. She was kind and generous, often sacrificially giving to her own detriment. She loved and welcomed people where they were in life without judgement. She will always be remembered for her 'million dollar' smile, and infectious laugh that put a smile in your heart. Her life was well lived, always with class despite the circumstances and marked with joy, laughter, a deep love for all mankind, a deep desire to share the truth of God's word and the saving grace of Jesus to every person she met, anytime, and anywhere. She had a beautiful and celestial alto voice, always with a song in her heart and a skip in her step.
She will always be remembered as a prayer warrior. She prayed with conviction and purpose, and an expectation God would answer her prayers. She firmly believed prayer is God's love language, and she wanted to talk with him as often as possible, and she did in public and in private. Throughout her life, people asked her to pray for them, and she did! Often her prayers were answered immediately just like the time when she prayed for her friend who had a brain-bleed following a car accident. She asked God to please heal her friend's brain and make it brand new. When the doctor's examined her friend's brain, they reported back her brain was healed, just like it was brand new, exactly for which Elaine prayed. Another time was when she stopped by a local hospital in North Platte, Nebraska while on a business trip. She often stopped by local hospitals, when traveling, to see if there was anyone she could pray for. On this visit, she prayed with someone who was sitting in the waiting room, waiting for their loved one who was a patient at the hospital. God used that prayer to heal the patient, who she prayed for, as well as the person, who she prayed with. That person came to know the Lord as his personal savior. She often exclaimed, 'prayer works.' In the name of the Father, Son and The Holy Spirit, we are sealed in Christ Jesus when we believe in him and accept him as our savior and Lord. That was always her posture in life and she stood firm on the truth of God's word. She was truly the 'hands and feet' of Jesus. No doubt she heard, 'Well Done Thy Good and Faithful Servant' upon seeing the face of Jesus.
When you got her attention, she had the gift to make you feel like the most important person, and she made sure you knew it! She made sure you knew she loved you and that Jesus loves you too. She made everyone feel that way. She was patriotic and had a deep love of country and would often wake up early in time to hear our national anthem, The Star Spangle Banner, played before a morning news program on her favorite news channel; she often stood in salute.
She dressed 'to the nines', often getting 'dolled up' with makeup and jewelry for her weekly hair appointment. It was a weekly production 'fixing' her hair before getting it done. She always said, 'a girl never leaves without her lipstick' and she never did! She firmly believed life was a gift and should be lived with excellence and laughter and she did and looked fabulous while doing it!
Elaine is preceded in death by her beloved son, Duane as well as her husband, Dudley. She is survived by Mark and Chris, her Dancer-stepchildren and grandchildren, her sister-in-law, Johna Parton Howard, sister-in-law, Helen McKee Jaquess, sister-in-law, Peggy Cooper, her McKee and Harvey stepchildren and grandchildren. She is survived by those who the Lord brought into her life, who loved and cherished her, as 'mother' and she in turn loved and cherished them. She is also survived by a host of nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews as well as a multitude of friends, around the world, all who she loved immensely.
Her memorial service, in Dallas, Texas, will be held, Saturday, October 25, 2025, at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, 9200 Inwood Road, Dallas, Texas 75220, at 2 pm. All are welcome. The date for her memorial service, in Dewey, Oklahoma, will be announced soon.