Elsie Dale Allshouse

On May 21, 2015, in Statesboro, Georgia, Elsie Dale Allshouse answered God’s call and she peacefully returned the gift of life that He had joyfully provided her on April 12, 1926. Elsie had worked, nurtured, cherished and celebrated that gift for 89 years. Most of those years were grand ones but she grew weary and God must have thought it was time for her to rest.

Elsie Dale Hamilton and her twin brother Edward H. Hamilton were born to Victoria Robinson Hamilton and Charlie Hamilton in Atlantic, NC on April 12, 1926. They were baptized in Core Sound and they were raised by genuine salt-of-the-earth coastal North Carolinians. A little sister, Nellie, came along a few years hence. Elsie often proudly repeated the boast that she was: “A Tar Heel born and a Tar Heel bred and, when I die, I’ll be a Tar Heel…” Well, you get the picture. Victoria, Charlie, Edward and Nellie were all called home before Elsie. She carried the torch for her immediate family as long as she could and as long as she was asked to. The U.S. Navy relocated Elsie and her family many times but, at her core, Atlantic was always home.

Elsie was valedictorian of her Atlantic, NC high school. Her academic prowess notwithstanding, she was also a feared slugger on the baseball diamond. She often reminisced how the boys she played with would refer to her as a female reincarnation of Babe Ruth and the outfielders were admonished to head toward the fences when she was at bat. Elsie was a nurturer by instinct. The first young-un she raised was her young cousin, Evelyn Clyde Harris. Evelyn herself mostly raised “HE double toothpicks”. Evie called Elsie “Sissy” – the big sister she always wanted. They were a real family. Elsie was a fisherman’s daughter. Charlie Hamilton took Elsie out before sunrise to gig flounders, pole a skiff, dig clams and tend crab pots. She often did this while her twin brother Edward majored in sleeping. As a young woman Elsie was also known for having gorgeous legs and she could whip together an amazing lemon meringue pie.

After high school, Elsie attended Campbell College for as long as she could afford the tuition. She focused on business studies and landed a job in the Fuel and Disbursing office at the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, NC. One routine day at the office, a handsome young ENS Thomas J. Allshouse, SC, USN strode in with orders as the new disbursing and fuel control officer at Cherry Point. Elsie described her flashbulb memory of that day as a fairytale case of love at first sight. She truly and instinctively felt that TJ was meant for her. She simply had to convince him of the same. She saw shy, young Tom, recent graduate of the US Naval Academy and the Naval Supply Corps School, as swimming naively in a pool of rapacious, unattached southern belles. Without hesitation, Elsie took the initiative and invited him to a movie. So, it seems that they started with coming attractions but in reality the attraction was already galvanized and through 51 years, a stellar Naval career and three children they were inseparable.

Elsie loved to garden, to entertain and she loved to cook. Oh, and by the way, many people in turn LOVED her cooking and loved the fact that she loved to cook. She was a stay-at-home mother and she was devoted to her children. She decorated cakes, her numerous government quarters and Supply Corps Birthday Ballrooms. She sewed clothing, worked in her church homes and could throw a dinner party for 40 people without breaking a sweat. Elsie Allshouse did many things in her own special way. Some folks we know anticipated the coming of Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus just a wee bit more than the resurrection of Elsie’s chocolate covered peanut butter candy Easter egg recipe. Yummy.

Elsie has three amazing children. Sharon Dale Rich, a conflation Geologist/coiffeuse, Michael James Allshouse, a pediatric surgeon and Karen Lynne Berlin, a Cardiac Rehabilitation Nurse and canine behaviorist. She is also survived by her adored and adoring grandchildren: Andy, Kate and Tom Rich and their father, her son-in-law Fred Rich, as well as Tony, Victoria, Charlie, Ryan and Sara Allshouse and her loving daughter in law Denise Lynn Allshouse.

Elsie was known to put pen to paper – a self-styled, homespun poetess. She also loved to paint. Simple landscapes, flowers and still life were her favorites. As it was with her core being, it was the simplicity and honesty of her rhymes and artwork that was so compelling and endearing. One of her most proud poetic pieces was her heartfelt reflection on her life choices, written to her husband.

Elsie wrote:
If I could say what I would do,
I’d say I’ll spend my life with you.
If I could say how I’d live my life,
I’d say I’d live it as a Navy wife.

For 39 years of their marriage that is precisely what she did. Mission accomplished. Her main sweetheart, Thomas J. Allshouse, died on November 19, 2002. Fifty-one years prior to his passing, Elsie and Tom started on a journey in Havelock, NC that took them to the Panama Canal Zone, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and to California before heading back to eastern roots. Elsie and Tom lived in Woodbridge, VA until his death, where they were members of Hope Lutheran Church. Elsie moved to Brooklet, GA to be close to her Daughter, Sherry after Tom’s passing. She turned out each day to play the role of mother, Navy wife and eventually an Admiral’s wife. She was never pretentious. Elsie was Tom’s companion with the same love, style and grace that defined her as a daughter, mother, and friend. Hot damn! She was loved by many and she returned that love in kind.

The story goes that, as newlyweds, Elsie and Tom were traveling from Havelock to the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania for their honeymoon. Tom decided to stop at the Gettysburg National Battlefield to establish the historical basis for Northern dominance in the battle between the Union and Confederate states, lest his southern bride have a lapse of memory somewhere along the way. On June 8, 2015, Elsie Dale Allshouse will be laid in her final place of rest alongside her life partner and sweetheart – No other love – RAdm Thomas J. Allshouse, SC, USN. The will reside together in perpetuity in the national cemetery on the grounds of the Unites States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Elsie has Tom south of the Mason Dixon line for eternity – Atta girl Elsie! Rejoice that such human boundaries do not exist in heaven. Your beauty and goodness live on in the lives you touched so profoundly. Rest well. God has you.

Please visit our online memorial at www.hodgesmoore.com to sign the guestbook and share fond memories with the Allshouse family.

Hodges-Moore Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements.