Obituary of Elise F. Draper

Elise Draper, 77, of Phoenix, Ariz., died quite peacefully Saturday evening, July 21, 2018. She had a stroke on Thursday and died Saturday, so her demise was brief. She was a longtime resident of Albion until her move to Arizona in February. She was born on Sept. 22, 1940 in the Panama Canal Zone to the late Albert and Ruby (Merrill) Nelson.

Elise was married to Donald Draper for 51 years until his death in 2015. They lived at the same address on Transit Road for all those years. Elise was a hard worker! Through her years, she was employed at Bemis Bag Company, Eddy Printing and Remley Printing. Her last employment was as a pharmacy technician for RiteAid in Albion.

Elise and Don were well suited for each other, loving the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and traveling in their Hi-Lo. They bowled and played a lot of euchre and pinochle with dear friends. Elise took up ceramics and also loved to read fiction books. Most of all, Elise was an avid genealogist, tracing family lines way back to the founding fathers and beyond. She also assisted others in accurately tracing their family roots. Due to her devotion to genealogy, she and her sister were accepted as members of the Albion chapter of the D.A.R.

Elise is survived by her sister, Patricia, who resides in Rochester; and her brother, David (Holly), living in Phoenix. She leaves nephews and nieces, Paul, Gary, Daniel, Michael, Trisha, Sherri and Nick; cousins, Jane Frink and James Merrill; and numerous grandnephews and grandnieces dear to her. She is also survived by cousins and beloved family members of her late husband, who have stayed very close for decades. Also missing her are her cats, George, Muffy, and Toby – with her for 16+ years.