William D Elkin Funeral Home

Caudle-Rut­ledge-Daugherty Funeral Home, Lindale. MEGAN CAIN, 51, Tyler, Texas, died May 19. Jackson’s Burks Walker Tippit Funeral Home, Tyler. VERNELL EVERHART, 89, Tyler, died May 18. John R. Har­mon Undertaking Company, Tyler. HERLON JOYCE FIELDS, 65, Frankston, died May 19. John R. Harmon Undertaking Co., Tyler. OSWALDO LOPEZ, 24, Tyler, died May 21. John R. Har­mon Undertaking Co., Tyler. THELMA MCKENZIE, 88, LaRue, died May 22. John R. Harmon Undertaking Co., Tyler. LEON RUSSELL, 68, Tyler, died May 20. John R. Harmon Undertaking Co., Tyler. JACQUELINE FONTAINE TRIANA, 77, Tyler, died May 12. William D. Elkin Funeral Home, 65 S. Lake St., North East, PA. BRANDON ALLEN WASHINGTON, 29, Tyler, died May 20. Community Funeral Home of Tyler. FUNERALS TODAY BOBBIE E. “GENE” BUNCH, 94, Flint; Graveside 10 a.m. Tuesday at Cathedral in the Pines. Stewart Family Funeral Home, Tyler. ELTON L. CHANEY, 82, Nacogdoches; Funeral service 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Home, Nacogdoches. CHRISTINA LEE HUFF, 41, Mineola; Gathering of Friends 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at Caudle-Rutledge-Daugherty Funeral Home, Lindale. CHESTER DEAN KENNEDY, 70, Troup; Memorial service 11 a.m. Tuesday at Caudle-Rutledge-Daugherty Funeral Home, Lindale. JERRY RAY STEGALL, 74, Tyler; Visitation Funeral service 2 p.m. Tuesday at Jackson’s Burks Walker Tippit Funeral Home, Tyler. FUNERALS TOMORROW TED L. ALLEN, 74, Henderson; Visitation 4-5 p.m. Wednesday at Crawford-A. Crim Funeral Home. Memorial service 3 p.m. Wednesday at Crawford-A. Crim Funeral Home, Henderson. ROBERT “BOB” HOGUE SR., 70, Grand Saline; Visitation 10 a.m. Wednesday at Bartley Funeral Home. Funeral service 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bartley Funeral Home, Grand Saline. JAYME (MALONE) LOPEZ, 54, Wills Point; Visitation 1 p.m. Wednesday at Allan Fuller Funeral Home. Funeral service 2 p.m. Wednesday at Allan Fuller Funeral Home, Wills Point. ALICE ADAMS SHELTON, 75, Tyler; Graveside service 2 p.m. Wednesday at Rose Hill Cemetery. Jack... (Tyler Morning Telegraph)

David Bruce @ETNBruce
 Melissa Traylor beat the odds in many different ways.The North East woman went from living in a sod-roofed farmhouse near Findley Lake, New York, to attending some of Detroit's most elegant parties in the 1930s. She also underwent hip surgery at the age of 108 and was believed to be Erie County's oldest person — and the 15th oldest in the United States, according to one ranking — when she died Friday at the LECOM Senior Living Center.Traylor was 111 — and a half."I don't really have any secrets," Traylor said during her 109th birthday in 2015. "I just live on."Family members said Traylor was in good health until just about a month ago. She was transferred from her Parkside at North East apartment to the LECOM center for more extensive medical care, said her nephew, James Stetson."They thought was that she might even get transferred back (to Parkside) once her medications were regulated, but then her health took a turn for the worse," he said.Traylor was born Feb. 6, 1906, when Theodore Roosevelt was president. She lived with her family in that farmhouse near the Pennsylvania-New York state line until she married her first husband and moved to Detroit when she was just 18.The couple divorced a few months later but Traylor remained in Detroit, where she became a hairdresser and later married Hoy Traylor in 1927."Hoy was a union president and we would attend parties with other union officials," Traylor said in the 2015 interview. "Jimmy Hoffa would be at some of them and all the men would gather around his table and talk. ... You know, a lot of people think he's in the (Detroit) River."The couple, who never had children, moved to Florida in the 1960s and remained married until Hoy Traylor died in 1975.Traylor then moved in with her two sisters in Florida, and was sometimes spotted mowing the family's 4-acre property and cutting brush. She remained there until 2006, after her sisters each died.She decided to relocate to North East, to be n... (GoErie.com)