Ella Mae was born in Brownsville, Ohio in 1918. After a brief move to Oklahoma at the age of five, she moved with her family to Coryville, Pennsylvania where she spent the rest of her childhood. Her memories of Coryville are tender and many
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Her father began his career as a schoolteacher at a time when teachers made their way be rooming with a student’s family and earning a small wage. His earnings were only $22.00 a month. But he came away from those early years with something more valuable than money, for it was from the family he roomed with that he met Ella Mae’s mother.

Sadly, her mother died when Ella Mae was only 1-1⁄2 years old. Her father then married her mother’s sister, who also passed away when Ella Mae was only eleven. So she was, in a sense, what she called “a kind of little orphan girl.” But the experience of growing up without a mother was softened by the tender care of the women of Coryville. The small town of only 200 people embraced her and cared for her so dearly that she has only fond memories of her growing up years.

The Depression was in full swing during Ella Mae’s childhood, but the kids in her town never knew it, because they were having too much fun. They didn’t care that they were poor, because, she said, “we were all in the same boat.” Instead of wasting time thinking about things they didn’t have, they kept busy with what they did. They went swimming and ice skating and hiking. Since they didn’t have any meat, they couldn’t have hot dog roast. Instead, they had just as much fun having potato roasts around a campfire.

Ella Mae received her education in a one-room schoolhouse, it was a good education. After graduation she worked her way through business college in Jamestown, New York. She earned her degree as a Medical/Dental Secretary and worked for doctors all her adult life.

She met her first husband, Charles M. Baker, in Pennsylvania, they spent 17 years of their marriage living in Niagara Falls. They lived on the gorge and could see the spray of the falls from their house. Their three children were born there. They are sons Howard and Frank Baker, both of Florida, and daughter, Becky Hill, who is a genealogist ad the Head Librarian of The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center.

Ella Mae also has three grandchildren, and one great-grandson. Many in Tiffin may be familiar with her granddaughter, Carrie Hill. A singer and dancer, she is well-known locally for her Tiffin performances. She is now performing in theaters in New York and on cruise ships.

After her husband, Charles, passed away, Ella Mae married Edward Peters. They spent many wonderful years in Florida until he passed away after 13 years of marriage.

After Edward’s death, she and a friend from Florida began traveling the world. “We were both widows,” she said, “so we were able to do it together.” They pulled their resources and traveled to such far away places as England, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. In all, they did nine tours of Europe, sailed on eight cruises, and made two tours of America, one in the east and one in the west.

Her favorite vacation was to Portugal. “It was a smaller group,” she said, “Portugal itself was smaller, and it was so picturesque.” The streets were too narrow to drive the bus through, so they had to park and walk down to the little towns. “It was very cozy,” she said.

These days, Ella Mae keeps busy in her apartment at Kiwanis Manor, a wonderful place to live, according to her. She spends much of her time with her daughter, and keeps in close contact with her sons, mostly by computer. When Ella Mae was 80 years old, she received her first computer, a gift from her family. She’s on her 3rd now, and she loves it.

She was still living in Florida when she was given her first computer, and she took Internet courses at a Community College there to learn to use it. “They got me through the stages,” she said. They learned to use the Internet and to email. “We could email each other. That was amazing,” she said.

Her newest computer toy from her family is a SKYE video cam. Her son bought it for her, and it allows them to see each other as they talk on the phone. They both look into a camera as they speak, and the video image is transferred to each other’s computers.

As much as Ella Mae enjoys her computer, her greatest love is painting. When she was in her forties in New York, she decided to fulfill her desire to learn how to paint. She learned the hard way, by teaching herself. She read a lot of books, took a few adult education courses to perfect what she learned, and joined an art league in Florida. The result of all her hard work is seen in many beautifully intricate paintings she has created.
Ella Mae’s paintings are mostly of memories. She has recreated the tender memories of her Depression-era childhood in a myriad of paintings that recall a simple, pleasant time in American history.

Ella Mae has painted the back of her grandmother’s house in Coryville, with the wash hanging on the line, and the old, wooden, United Brethren church she attended throughout her childhood. Her brother lived in log cabin on a hill, and she has drawn the amazing view she remembers seeing as she looked to the valley at the foot of the hill. There’s a painting done of an old barn she recalls from her childhood, and one of the old country store, with her relatives lounging on the front porch.

She’s also painted scenes from her travels, such as a view of Annecy, France and the steeple from Heidelberg, Germany. She has also recaptured a memory from her vacation cottage on Loon Lake in Canada.

Ella Mae’s paintings have been in art exhibits and art shows, and were featured in an art exhibit at the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library in 2006. Many of her paintings and prints are for sale and can be viewed at such places as the gift shop of Kiwanis Manor, Allen Eiry Senior Center, the gallery of massage therapist James Croom, Frameworks, and the Tiffin Art Guild gallery. Ella Mae is member of the Tiffin Art Guild, one of Tiffin’s newest treasures. It promotes and supports local artist through classes, art shows, and monthly meetings.

The paintings and prints Ella Mae offers for sale are professionally framed by Sheryl Holman of Frameworks in Tiffin. Sheryl also frames the paintings for Ella Mae’s art exhibits. “She’s a tremendous person, my guardian angel,” said Ella Mae. “She does such beautiful work.”

From one-room schoolhouse to college graduate, world traveler, and professional painter, Ella Mae has been living an amazing life. But most importantly through all of her experiences and accomplishments, she has maintained a kind and meek spirit. It seems she has learned the secret of living a life full of grace and meaning.