Carrie Elaine Rockafellow

C. ELAINE ROCKAFELLOW
     Our beloved mother has winged her way to her heavenly home. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at MyMichigan Medical Center, Alma, MI on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
      Funeral Services will be held at Alma First Church of God at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 24, 2025, with Pastor Brian Wickes officiating. Burial next to her husband will take place at Pritchard Cemetery, Elwell, MI. Visitation will be held at the Alma First Church of God, Alma, on Sunday, March 23, 2025, from 5-7 p.m. and Monday at 10:00 a.m. prior to the service.
     Carrie “Elaine” Rockafellow was born in Alma on October 15th, 1925, to Arza Sylvester and Elizabeth Katherine (Ingersol) Andrews of Alma, MI. The youngest of five siblings, she grew up very close to her cousins who were closer to age. She helped in the home farm cooking for several farm hands, including her future husband. Elaine graduated from Alma Public Schools in 1944.
     She then worked at Gittlemans, (clothing store in Alma) fostering her life-long passion for fashion and then as a telephone operator at General Telephone. During the war years she went to the USO dances at Alma College where they trained upcoming military officers.
      At her home on September 7, 1945, she married Lawrence Edward Rockafellow from Elwell when he returned from piloting cargo planes over the Himalayan Mountain Range. They were blessed with 54 years of marriage prior to his death on July 13, 1999. Together they raised four children while she worked assembly jobs, selling Easterling Silver flatware, making salads for Saga Foods at Alma College and later managing the college’s Student Union Snack Bar. She spent many years at GE turned Hitachi in Edmore while owning and managing the Mode O’ Day ladies clothing store in Alma. She also obtained a real estate license but retired to Florida before putting it to use.
     Elaine and Lawrence resided in Homosassa Springs, Florida from 1980 to 1999, but returned to their beloved Alma every summer. Both of them were very active members of the Alma First Church of God where she taught Sunday School, Junior Church and a teen drama club and at Faith Baptist Church in Homosassa Springs, FL. Elaine enjoyed crafts, especially floral arrangements.
     Elaine is predeceased by her parents, husband, siblings and their spouses: Dessa (George) Heinrich, Naomi (Roy) Apple, George (Wilma) Andrews, and Irene (Winston) Brown, grandson Matthew Everdeen and granddaughter-in-law Patricia Mailand, as well as many very dear friends, especially Glenn Thrush of the Alma/St. Louis area, and Rosa Letterman of Homosassa Springs, FL.
     Surviving Elaine are her four children: Larry (Susan) Rockafellow, Lonna (John) Everdeen, Paula (Robert) Comstock, and Vicki (Mike) Wezensky; Grandchildren: Amy (Mike) Espich and their daughter Ashley; Jake (Susie) Everdeen and their children: Tia (Josh) Riggs and Brendan Everdeen; Elizabeth (Ronald) Campbell and their sons: Ronald (Rachel) Campbell, and Jordan (Jessica Delo), Luke (Heather) and their children: Jonathan, Grace, Hannah, and Robert Comstock and Andrew (Cassidy) Comstock and their children: Rebecca, Benjamin, Zachariah and Rachel Comstock; Jason Mailand; Michael (Patricia-deceased) Mailand and their children: Hannah, Brook, and Evan Mailand; and four great-great grandchildren: Judlee and Jetland Campbell, Sutton Riggs and Kaya Campbell. She is also survived by fabulous and loving caregivers: Stacy Bates, Charity Burt, Karen Hudson, Kathy Lombard, Linda Richards, Ronna Rummer, and Michelle Smith.
     Memorials may be made to Alma First Church of God, 200 W. Superior St., Alma, MI 48801, or the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be made at www.smithfamilyfuneralhomes.com. The family is being served by Smith Family Funeral Homes, St. Louis, Michigan.