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OBITUARY

May Ella Gaddis was born on January 30, 1928 in Thomastown, Mississippi. She was the fourth of 12 children born to Anderson and Ellen Gaddis. Later the family moved to Carthage, MS.

In her youth, she and her family were members of Pleasant Green Baptist Church. There was no high school in Carthage that she could attend so she attended the Boarding School of Higher Learning in the Galilee Community, where she was a standout player on the girls' basketball team, expertly playing all positions.

She and Leon Crouther were wed on Christmas Day in 1946. A set of twins, Lenora and Leon Jr, were born to the couple in 1948. That same year, Leon moved to Detroit in search of work. May Ella and the twins quickly followed.

The Crouthers settled on Detroit's west side, attending First Baptist Church in southwest Detroit. They later moved to a home at 7608 Melville Street, where they raised their twins and an additional daughter and son, Patsy and Perry. In 1968, they moved to a bungalow on Coyle Street in northwest Detroit.

May Ella was a devoted wife and mother who created a comfortable and loving home for her family. She loved to sew, creating beautifully-constructed clothing for her family.  She also cherished opportunities to cook for her family, later monetizing her culinary skills as a short order cook at Food-A-Rama and for the Brass Rail restaurant in downtown Detroit.

May Ella's expert needlework also led to jobs sewing mattresses at a Detroit-area factory and car seats for General Motors. Her service to GM also included a stint in the paint shop at the Fleetwood Fisher Body plant.

Her homemaking skills extended to gardening, and she was known for creating vibrant floral beds anchored by massive hydrangeas. She also planted vegetable gardens that fed her family and attracted visits from neighborhood rabbits. She took great pride in her home, often enlisting her grandsons to rearrange her furniture when she hatched a new interior design idea.

For many years, May Ella played cards with a group of friends who rotated hosting duties at their homes for monthly card parties. She also frequented Detroit's casinos, where betting on the slot machines was her preferred game of chance. The former basketball star never lost her love for the game, spending countless hours in front of the television watching the NBA, especially her beloved Detroit Pistons.

Above all, May Ella loved her family, opening her heart and home to relatives and friends. Joyfully attending family reunions with her many siblings and their children and grandchildren.

May Ella Crouther's earthly journey ended on Monday, January 31, 2022, one day after her 94 ^th birthday. Left to cherish her memory are her daughters, Lenora Pennington and Patsy Elmore (Robert); son, Perry Crouther. Grandchildren: Travis, Josh, Starlet, Winter Ivory, Ken (Kim), Karolen, Kevin (Tyffany), Tracey, LaShawn, Leon III, Amanda. Great-grandchildren and Great-great-grandchildren: Josh, Winter Ivory, Starlet, Jackson, Kia, Matthew, Kyle, Kendall, Savannah, Eric, Leon IV, Darmesha, Emonee, Jujuan, Robin, Daesean, Shaniya, and Sakylah. Siblings: Eleanor Whittington, Elaine Hamilton, and Eudora Logan, a niece who was like a sister to her.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Leon; son, Leon Jr.; parents, Anderson and Ellen Gaddis and siblings: Ruben, Mary Ellen, Magnolia, Jay Wyatt, John, Thomas, Fred James, James Harry and Dan.