Elsie Jo Tescari

FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS…. Elsie Jo (Patton) Blakeman-Tescari October 19, 1927-May 3, 2023 Our Southern Belle aka “Tennessee Toddie” will be lovingly missed by all. Elsie Jo (Patton) Tescari, age 95, was the 6th of 7 children, born in Silver Point, Tennessee, to Joseph Lafayette “Fate” Patton and Maggie Illinois Martin. Elsie was preceded in death by brother Othal Kelly Patton; sisters, Vauta May “Pat” Tenney and Liona Loretta Sieberg; both husbands Carl L. Blakeman and Dominic Tescari. Sisters, Mary Osca and Oscar Jewel, died of typhoid in 1925, her baby sister Margret “Bittie” Ollie, in 1931, of whooping cough and her mother in 1935 of pneumonia/tuberculosis. Elsie grew up during the chaotic time of the Great Depression and World War II. After her mother’s death, Elsie & her 3 siblings, spent much of their childhood with their beloved grandmother, Mother Martin. The death of her mother, grandmother, sisters and her baby girl, Gloria Jean, left a lasting impact on the importance of family to her. Through her grade school years, she and her siblings were taught by her father, “Fate”, a teacher, and Baptist Minister. Elsie’s high school years 1941-1945 were spent at Pleasant Hill Missionary Academy in Tennessee. Elsie lived at the school until graduating in 1945. She was very happy here, often stating her high school years were “the happiest years of her life.” After high school, Elsie moved to Chattanooga to live with her Aunt Jennie, while working for Southern Bell Telephone Company. She met US Army Pvt. Carl Blakeman at a USO dance in Chattanooga. They were married November 30, 1946, in Rossville, GA. Carl was stationed at Camp Carlise, PA and their 45-year marriage began with their first home near Ft. Meade, Maryland, then onto North Platte, NE.; Salinas, CA; and ending in Sacramento, CA. Elsie was a wonderful Mom and homemaker. Whether in the kitchen, cooking for 10, baking loaf after loaf of bread or washing mounds of diapers and making our clothes…her life revolved around her family. With Carl working, at age 34, she told herself she had to learn to drive so that she could visit her child, who had been hospitalized for months. By age 48, Carl was disabled, unable to work. Now, Mom had to find work. She began caring for the elderly, cleaning homes, collecting information for R.L. Polk city directory and finally as a phone operator for a large taxi company in California. She learned to dispatch for this company and became one of Sacramento’s top dispatchers. There wasn’t a street, avenue, or boulevard she couldn’t find for her drivers! Carl’s death in 1991 left her alone again. A few years later, and with some persuasion from her daughter, she placed a personal ad. Along comes a new chapter of love for her later years! As she lovingly called him…her Italian Stallion, Dominic! For the next 12 wonderful years, Dominic opened doors to laughter and living happily with so much love and respect that Elsie deserved. Dominic died in 2006. By 2019, with declining health, Elsie planned to rotate living with one of her two daughters every 6 months. After 70 years in Sacramento, she tried her plan. This proved too much for her and took permanent residency in 2020 in Scappoose, Oregon. She loved challenging puzzles. Though eyesight poor, after 17 months, she completed a beautiful, 7000 piece one! And you could often find her at the casino slots, usually leaving a winner. Of her nine children, those surviving are her sons, Ronald (Marion), Gordon (Nancy), Delbert (Joyce), Arthur (Rosalie), David (Leah), Curtis (Znette) Blakeman and daughters, Sharon (Michael) Cramer and Carolyn (George) Lyngheim; and extended families including 118 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren; her sister-in-law, Bonnie Patton, and numerous nieces and nephews. A new great-great-grandchild, her namesake Elsie Jo Marie, is due in late June. Celebration of Life in California later this summer pending notification. In lieu flowers, she requested donations to St Jude Hospital for Children.

Elsie Jo Tescari

October 19, 1927 - May 3, 2023