Elaine Witman Pennell, who married the only man she ever loved, raised three children and was never, ever wrong, died Wednesday, April 14, 2021. She was 74, and she was the world to her family. She was a woman of faith who said she was called to study religion even if only to minister to her own family. (We needed all the help we could get.) She was also a woman of art, a lover of music and books who wrote in green ink because that’s what Langston Hughes used. A great teller of tales, she had endless stories to share -- some of them many times over. There’s the one about playing the clarinet in the high school band at the official opening of Nottingham County Park in 1963, an event that ensured the conservation of the serpentine barrens whose strange scenery was a constant presence in her childhood. She worked for years in the park office, and would inform anyone who was listening that she’d been there at the start. Then there was the time she walked across the football field on a broken ankle after being wiped out on the sideline, lest the opposing team smell weakness among the Oxford Hornet parents that ran the down and distance markers. She was a stargazer who hosted parties for meteor showers, and fed anyone who came through her door -- a parade of friends and family and kids that stretched on for decades. If you sat at her table or beside her fire, you were one of her children whether you knew it or not. Born Lillian Elaine Witman on October 20, 1946, she almost immediately got a start on being contrary by deciding she didn’t care to be called Lillian. She was the first of three children born to Horace Witman and Louise Reynolds Witman, and -- by her own proud admission -- the most difficult. She graduated from Oxford Area High School and rebelliously dropped out of West Chester University to be closer to her soulmate, Dale Pennell. So she paid her own way through Lincoln University by working in the library, and graduated with honors.
On July 15, 1967, she married Dale and soon started a family. First was Elizabeth, then Gregory, then Randy. Each posed unique challenges, but she always gave them what they needed: love, guidance, enthusiasm for their interests and unvarnished criticism. When her children had children of their own, she reveled in caring for them, too. She knit socks and scarves, sewed dresses for dolls and stuffed animals, cleaned scrapes and wiped tears. (If you had a splinter, you were on your own.) She lived our struggles and our victories. She was the greenhouse of our family -- in her was the warmth that made generations grow. As a young mother of three, she attended Lancaster Theological Seminary and graduated with a master’s degree in religion in 1987. Though she considered entering the ministry, she ultimately used the experience to further her own relationship with God. Faith was a central element of her life, expressed in her compassion, her deep sense of justice and her hope for a better world. She is survived by Dale, her husband of 53 years; her daughter Elizabeth Taylor; her sons Gregory and Randy; two daughters-in-law, Alison Carlisle Pennell and Erin Krasniewicz, a son-in-law James Taylor; and her grandchildren, Amber, Zachary, Claire, James, Jake and Kathleen. She is also survived by her brother, John Witman, and Yildiz Ediger, a foreign exchange student who was like a sister to her. She was preceded in death by her parents and her younger sister, Hope. The family will hold a celebration of her life at Nottingham Park on May 15. Visitation with the family will begin at 10 a.m., with a memorial service to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her memory to the restoration and beautification of the park, whose twisty pines and whippoorwills were the scenery and soundtrack of her life. For the record, this obituary was not edited by Elaine, who no doubt would have demanded changes. They would have been in green ink. Arrangements are being handled by the Edward L. Collins, Jr. Funeral Home, Inc. Oxford, PA. On-line condolences may be made at www.elcollinsfuneralhome.com. Comments are closed.
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