Laura Ella Horton

Laura Ella Horton peacefully passed away on Monday, July 7, 2014, in St. Augustine, Fla. She was 102 years old. Born Nov. 20, 1911, to the late Texas and Enoch Dalton, Ella grew up on a bucolic farm near Hillsville, Va., in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She was the oldest of five children, and the only girl. After her father passed away at a young age, Ella was left to help raise her four younger brothers and tend the large farm her family owned.
During The Great Depression, she married Guy Horton. They moved to West Virginia where Guy worked as an inspector in the coal mines, and Ella "kept house" and raised their only child, Donna Sue. Ella loved taking care of her family and home. She loved visiting with friends. Her simple life was precious. After Donna married, Ella and Guy moved back to Hillsville and eventually built a home on a hill, where Ella welcomed visits from her brothers, her family and friends, always cooking beautiful meals for one and all and "settin" on the porch after supper.
A few years after Guy passed away in 2000, Ella moved to St. Augustine to be near her daughter and son-in-law. She always loved to go shopping - she had a practical, yet wonderful sense of style in her clothing and her home decorating, both of which she enjoyed all her life. She loved visits from her granddaughter and her family. She always looked forward to going out to lunch with them.
Ella was a loyal friend - she kept in touch with her friends and kept up with the goings-on in Hillsville through the Carroll County News every week, even after she moved to Florida.
She loved to read, play BINGO, and flatfoot to bluegrass and old-time music, even up until the last few months of her long life, and she always loved a good joke.
Ella was preceded in death by her husband, Guy Horton, her parents, Enoch and Texas Dalton, and her brothers, Clive, Guy, Conrad, and Glenn. She is survived by her daughter, Donna Sue Crandall, wife of Ralph Crandall of St. Augustine; granddaughter, Karen West, wife of Soren West; and great-grandchildren, Hannah and Bergen West, all of Lancaster, Pa.
The family will be receiving guests on Saturday, July 12, 2014, at 10 a.m. with the funeral at 11 a.m. at Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel in Hillsville. Burial will follow in the Branscome Cemetery. A guestbook is available online by visiting www.vaughanguynnandmcgrady.com.
Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel is serving the family.