Etta Florence Nellie Snyder

Etta Florence Nellie Snyder was born on 22 May 1924, Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, to Frank and Nellie Snyder, the 8th of 11 children. She grew up in the Wichita, Kansas area, later living in Texas for 3 ½ years, and California with her first husband, Donovan Elliott, and their two children. After Donovan's death, she married Donald Clark and became the stepmother to his two children, and continued to live in California, with brief periods in Canada and England, due to Don's employment. After Don's death, she married again, to Jim French, who also passed away leaving her a widow. She passed away in her 74th year in the family home.

Individual Facts

Vital Statistics

• Name: Etta Florence Nellie Snyder
• Sex: Female
• Father: Frank Emerson Snyder
• Mother: Nellie May Laws
• Birth: 22 May 1924, Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas
• Death: 23 December 1998, Garden Grove, Orange, California
  • Find-a-Grave for Florence

Marriage 1

• Spouse: Donovan Vernel Elliott
• Marriage: 2 September 1939, Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas
• Death: 14 January 1960 in Harbor City, California
  • Find-a-Grave for Don Elliott

Children

• A girl, Wanda, born 1940
• A boy, Donovan Elliott, 1943 - 2014

Marriage 2

• Spouse: Donald Lee Clark
• Marriage: 3 July 1960, Palos Verdes, Los Angeles, California

Marriage 3

• Spouse: James Carlton French
• Marriage: 11 August 1979, Santa Ana, Orange, California

Biography

Florence was born on 22 May 1924, Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, to Frank and Nellie Snyder, the 8th of 11 children. She always thought her name was Florence Etta Nellie until she ordered a copy of her birth certificate and found that Ettie had been added in front of Florence. She continued using Florence and her father told her that her name was Etta and whoever added the name spelled it wrong. She grew up in the Wichita, Kansas area, and at the young age of 15 she married Donovan V. Elliott, who was 20 at the time, in a double ceremony with her older sister Edna who married Edward L. White. Edna was deaf so Flo said the vows for both and Edward always told everyone he had TWO wives.

There were two children born to this marriage, a girl, still living, and a boy, Donovan Vernel Elliott, Jr, who were born in 1940 and 1943, respectively. After the birth of their daughter they moved to Texas, next door to Donovan’s mother and stepfather, where jobs at a ship yard in Houston were available. It was in Texas that their son was born, before they moved to California, where Florence’s parents and siblings had relocated looking for work. Florence and Donovan lived in California until Donovan's death.

Donovan had just turned 40 on 1 December 1959 and passed away on 14 January 1960 after a long illness, during which Florence supported the family by working at Douglas Aircraft Co. in Long Beach, California, as a riveter, a fuel cell lead and a Union Rep. Not long before Donovan's death Florence bought a new home in Garden Grove, California, which is where they were living at the time he passed away.

It was while working at Douglas Aircraft that she became acquainted with a coworker, Donald, a widower, whom she married in July 1960. There were no children of this marriage, but Florence became the beloved stepmother to Donald's two young sons. Donald and Florence lived in the house in Garden Grove, with short interruptions due to employment, for the rest of their lives.

In 1967 the family moved for two and a half years to the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area, due to Donald's work assignment. After the successful completion of this assignment, they again moved for work purposes, this time to England. Donald and Florence enjoyed this nearly three-year assignment greatly, and traveled extensively in the British Isles, visiting and kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland, among other things, and collecting a large amount of memorabilia, much of it antiques of various kinds. Their most significant antique was a 1930 Rolls-Royce, which they also shipped home to California at the end of their tour in 1972. Donald passed away unexpectedly in October 1976, leaving Florence a widow again.

Three years after Donald's death, Florence was married for the third time, in August 1979, this time to Jim French, who, coincidentally had also been a coworker of hers at Douglas Aircraft. Jim passed away in March 1993 after a long illness, making Florence a widow for the third time. She survived him by six years, passing away at home, having reached her 74th year.