ELLA ANNETTE HARPER ROBERTSON, age 80, a resident of Charleston, died Thursday, August 11, 2016 at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.


Born on November 23, 1935, in Morley to Ollien DeWitt and Lois Ellen Crenshaw Harper, she moved to Mississippi County where she was a graduate of Anniston High School.

She graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in Elementary Education.
Her teaching career began in the rural Mississippi County schools of Crosnoe and Bridges, then in the Charleston School District where she remained until her retirement in 1996, after 42 years teaching.

She was always concerned about the welfare of not just her students, but any children in the schools.


She made many notable contributions to Charleston schools. In 1986 she developed and started the annual Solar Day along with Dorothy DeField and the Delaney family, still enjoyed today by elementary students. She also piloted the Parent as Teachers program in Charleston while teaching in the classroom and worked part time in that program after her retirement. She then accepted a position with the State Department of Education as a trainer for the Practical Parenting Partnership program across the state. In 2010-2012, she worked with the Charleston Public Schools to organize a JAC program.


As an active member of the Charleston United Methodist Church, she was very involved with the United Methodist Women serving in several offices and capacities, including president, and as a member and chairperson of various church committees and programs. In addition to her career and church activities, she dedicated much time to her membership in: the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) joining the King's Highway Chapter on July 7, 2001. She served as Chapter Vice Regent from 2001-2003, and 2010-2012, as the Chapter Regent from 2003-2010, and from 2012-2014, and she worked with more than 10 local schools each year to promote the DAR Good Citizen program. She was a Girl Scout and Boy Scout leader, served on the board for Girl Scout Cotton Boll Council; was active participant in the Red Hat Society; Missouri Retired Teachers Assocation; Mississippi County Historical Society; Delta Kappa Gamma Honor Society for Women Educators, including as president; the Board of the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Council (DAEOC; and as a volunteer with the Charleston Nutrition Center. She was honored as Charleston's Woman of the Year in 1982. In 2012, she received the Outstanding Community Service Award from DAEOC for her volunteer efforts through the years. She was also dedicated to visiting the elderly shut-in and those at the nursing home.


On April 9, 1962 she married Donald L. Robertson who survives.


Also surviving are four children, Donna (Jeff) Stack and Jim (LaDonna) Robertson all of Charleston; Kim (Pete) Bryan of Blodgett and Dana (Garry) Lathum of Jackson; two brothers, Galen (Sherry) Harper of Columbia and Charles (Sandie) Harper of Paragould, AR; four sisters, Dixie (John) Corrigan of Lakeland, FL, Martha (Larry) Dillon of Daytona Beach, FL, Sharon (Larry) Loomis of Blytheville, AR, and Margaret Anderson of Blythewood, S.C.; 10 grandchildren, Brittany Stack, Samantha Stack, Delaney Stack, Krystal Hull, Kiley Dorris, Chris Bryan, Carl Gary Lathum, Lyla Lathum, Matthew Lathum and Bryce Robertson; also 8 great grandchildren.


In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by one sister, Frances Mays, and two nephews, Christopher Loomis and Glenn Allen Mays.


Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. until the funeral service at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 13, 2016, at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. Her nephew Dee Harper, pastor of the Des Arc United Methodist Church in Des Arc, AR, will officiate.

Interment will follow in the IOOF Cemetery under the direction of McMikle Funeral Home.


Pallbearers will be Steven McClanahan, Carl Gary Lathum, Matthew Lathum, Bryce Robertson, Chris Bryan and Larry Loomis.


Memorial contributions may be given to the United Methodist Women, P.O. Box 351, Charleston, MO 63834.