Hayward-Stanmore Funeral Home of Marshall

Funeral services for Selma Downs will be Friday, March 23, 2007 at 11 a.m. from the Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church. Pastor James Webb, Officiating. Burial, Powder Mill Cemetery.

Mrs. Selma Jean (Ellison) Downs, 96, passed away at the Hospice of East Texas in Tyler, Texas on March 13, 2007 after a very short acute illness.

Mrs. Selma Downs was born to Joe and Albie Ellison in Ellensburg, Washington on February 15, 1911. The family moved to California when she was a small child. Mrs. Downs later moved to Marshall, Texas to live with her uncle and aunt, Joe and Susie Rudd to finish her secondary education. She later obtained her Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Bishop College, Marshall. Texas.

Mrs. Downs married noted educator Travis Downs on November 26, 1938 in Waxahachie, Texas and they were married for 40 years until his passing in 1978. They worked together as Principal and Teacher at the Dunbar Elementary School (Marshall). Her last teaching assignment before her retirement was at the Robert E. Lee Elementary School. She retired from the Marshall School District after 40 years of service as a 4th Grade teacher.

She was a long- time member of the Bethesda Baptist Church where she sang in the choir and her husband served as the pianist/organist. She was a member of The Bishop College Alumni Association, The Dramatic Arts Club, Eutopia Court #331 and The Retired Teachers Association. She loved to go fishing, enjoyed cooking, gardening, and crafting.