Obituary of Margaret Chrystal Elf

Margaret Chrystal Elf, 93, of 100 Warwick Road, West Ellicott, died peacefully at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday (Jan. 17, 2024) in her home of 50 years following a brief illness. She was born March 21, 1930, in Ryan, Iowa, a daughter of John George and Hazel Hamblin Chrystal. She was named for one of her grandmothers, who was named for one of her grandmothers. Margaret Chrystal grew up on her parents' farms in Ryan and Manchester, Iowa, and attended the Guthrie School, a one-room schoolhouse just under one mile north of the Chrystal farms in Hazel Green township, from grades one to six and the central school in Manchester in grades seven and eight. In 1947 she graduated from Manchester High School, where she played basketball and sang in the glee club and mixed chorus. She also worked on the family farms and helped her father run the Manchester farm when her older brothers went off to World War II. She was baptized in Golden Prairie Congregational Church in Ryan. Her first job was at the Manchester Telephone Co., where she was a switchboard operator. In 1947, she moved to Davenport, Iowa, where she worked in the Times Cafeteria, Fannie Farmer's candy shop, and, beginning in 1949, in the teen-aged girls department in Parker's department store. She met her husband, Dr. Frederick M. Elf, while he was a student at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport. They were married Oct. 26, 1952, in Trinity Lutheran Church in Davenport. After his graduation from Palmer in October 1953, they moved in 1954 to Jamestown, where she was the buyer for the jewelry and main-floor sportswear departments at Bigelow's department store from 1954 to 1961. For almost 20 years, Dr. and Mrs. Elf lived at 512 Prendergast Ave., Jamestown, where Dr. Elf had his practice for 46 years. In 1973, they moved to their West Ellicott home. Mrs. Elf was a member of Golden Prairie Congregational Church in Ryan until 1954 and Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Falconer from 1954 until 1965, when she and her husband joined Immanuel Lutheran Church in Jamestown, where she had taught Sunday School to preschoolers and kindergarteners, and had been a member of the church's nominating committee and its altar guild, of which she was president in the late 1970s and in 1993. While her children were in Love Elementary School in Jamestown and Celoron Elementary School, she was a room mother and was active in the Parent Teachers Association. After Immanuel Lutheran Church closed, she joined First Lutheran Church in Jamestown in 2021. She was a member of Moon Brook Country Club; the Norden Women's Club, of which she was president in 1975-76 and a board member from 2002 to 2004; the Jamestown Garden Club, of which she was treasurer for nearly a decade and then president in 2000-01; the Marvin Community House; and the Lakewood Rod and Gun Club auxiliary. She had also been a member of the Jamestown Shrine Club Auxiliary, of which she was president in 1981 and 2002-03 and co-president from 1997 to 2000; a member of the Jamestown Consistory Auxiliary; a member of the Warner Home board of directors from 2001 to 2006, its assistant treasurer from 2003 to 2006; a member of the Jamestown Kiwanis Wives, of which she was president in 1970-71; and a member of the auxiliary at WCA Hospital, where she had been a long-time volunteer in the gift shop. In 1998 and 2000, she held a leading role in Friends for Elf, her son's campaigns for the New York state Assembly. She had been a member of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee from Ellicott since 2017. Mrs. Elf was an avid Buffalo Bills' fan, having attended many games, including the Super Bowls in 1991 in Tampa and 1992 in Minneapolis. In earlier years, she enjoyed spending summers at the family cottage at Cheney's Point and boating on Chautauqua Lake. More recently she played tennis at the Lakewood YMCA and golf at WoodCrest Golf Course in Stedman. At age 84, she defeated Stage 3 colon cancer without surgery. On her 90th birthday and later on her 70th wedding anniversary, she was the subject of her son's newspaper column, available at https://works. bepress.com/elf. Mrs. Elf will be remembered for the love she had for and the pride she took in her family, and the good spirit and humor she shared with friends and in community organizations. Surviving are a son, Dr. Randolph Scott Elf of West Ellicott; a daughter, Carolyn Chrystal Elf Wood of Stedman; a son-in-law, Jonathan Jay Wood of Stedman; and a grandson, Collin Frederick Wood of High Point, N.C. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Frederick M. Elf, on April 27, 2000; an unborn child on May 22, 1962, the date of her father's funeral; a daughter-in-law, Hilary Anne Kurtz Elf, on April 11, 2021; her father on May 18, 1962; her mother on Dec. 13, 1969; her paternal grandfather, David Robert Chrystal, on Sept. 4, 1913; her paternal grandmother, Margaret Ann Dunlap Chrystal, on Aug. 27, 1929; her maternal grandfather, Seth Hamblin, on Feb. 4, 1932; her maternal grandmother, Anna Elizabeth Warrell Hamblin, on Dec. 6, 1944; three brothers: Harold Robert Chrystal on Sept. 14, 2003, Harlan Lewis Chrystal on Sept. 14, 2000, and Milan Hamblin Chrystal on Sept. 26, 1959; and a sister, Lois Irene Chrystal Ihlefeld, on Feb. 8, 2015. Mrs. Elf also joins in Heaven a grandson, Ryan Randolph Elf, and a granddaughter, Margaret Anne Elf. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in First Lutheran Church, 120 Chandler St., Jamestown. The Rev. Paul R. Messner, former vicar of Immanuel Lutheran Church, will officiate. The order of service is at https://works.bepress.com/elf. Interment will be in Lake View Cemetery, with the Rev. Daniel S. Rumfelt, retired Lutheran Social Services chaplain, singing the benediction. The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday in the Lind Funeral Home, 805 W. Third St., Jamestown, where the Rev. Tara Lamont Eastman, former pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, will conduct a private service at 1:30 p.m. Following Mrs. Elf's instructions, the family suggests that memorials may be made to Golden Prairie Congregational Church, 2959 190th Ave., Ryan, Iowa 52330; Chautauqua Hospice and Palliative Care, 20 W. Fairmount Ave., Lakewood, N.Y. 14750; the Dr. and Mrs. Randy Elf Fund at the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, 418 Spring St., Jamestown, N.Y. 14701; or Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children Erie Unit, 1645 W. Eighth St., Erie, Pa. 16505.