Elise Terry Ralls

A Celebration of Life Service for Elise Terry Ralls of Decatur will be held on Friday, December 30, 2011 at 2:00 PM at Clairmont Place located at 1800 Clairmont Lake, Decatur, Georgia. Mrs. Ralls died on December 26, 2011 following a brief illness. Elise Terry was born on January 5, 1924 in Florence, Alabama. Her family located to Atlanta in 1929 and she was educated in the public schools, graduating from Girls High. In 1943 she married Claude A. Ralls and together they had four children and enjoyed an active family life in the Decatur community. At age 48 while simultaneously working at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), parenting her four teenage children and maintaining the family household she undertook a rigorous evening education program being on the Dean's List and gaining her B.B.A. degree from Georgia State University. During her 35 year career at CDC she held numerous positions culminating as Assistant Director of the Media and Training Services Division with senior level responsibility for the Center's critical instructional programs for medical and laboratory professionals from all over the world. She retired from CDC in 1994 and embarked on an active and varied life of community service, travel and enjoying the company of her four beloved children, seven grand-children, four great grand-children and many, many mends. Among her diverse interests were playing classical music on the piano, attending the Atlanta and DeKalb Symphony, completing countless crosswords, and avidly playing bridge. She especially enjoyed her frequent visits to Mexico In 1994 she moved to the Clairmont Place retirement community where her intelligence and executive experience soon had her elected to the Board, and later to President of the community's resident association. She dearly loved the outstanding years of her life and mends at Clairmont Place and wrote" it was the smartest thing I have ever done". She was a member of the Clairmont Presbyterian Church and the National Association of Retired Federal Employees. Elise enjoyed a special and life long loving relationship with her younger brother Leonard (Buddy) Terry and his wife Rene. She wrote" I adored him from the first time I saw him". In summing up her own life Elise wrote" As I look back on my life and recall times that I had to work things out, I am surprised at myself. I couldn't just pray for God's help and then sit back and wait. I had to do something". Today her mends and family are fortunate and blessed to recall she did so many things that always made their lives better. She is survived and affectionately remembered by her children Claude. A Ralls, Jr. and Diane Holt of Atlanta, Wilma Ralls of San Francisco and Susan Merrell of Guanajuato, Mexico; her seven grand-children and four great grand-children, by her cherished brother Buddy Terry of Simpsonville, S.C. and his family and her beloved cousin Mickey Dunham of Tucker, Georgia. At her request following cremation her remains are to be taken to Mexico and spread in the lovely colonial city of Guanajuato.

Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033