Ella Mae Norris Singer

With great sadness and eternal thankfulness to Abba, our Father, the family of Ella Singer, 73, announces her peaceful passing into eternity. A beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin and friend, Ella’s sunrise came in Midnight, Mississippi on September 16,1949. Her sunset was February14, 2023 in Houston, Texas. She was born Ella Mae Norris to Sadie Mae Norris and George Patterson. She was the eldest daughter of twelve children. She met and married her husband, David Lowell Singer, who preceded her in death. Ella accepted Christ as her personal Lord and Savior and was baptized as a young adult. She had a deep faith in the Messiah and could turn the most devastating world events into a beautiful poem or piece of art.

Ella graduated high school from Booker T. Washington in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated college from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Ella served in the U. S. Navy from 1968 to 1970 as a hospital corpsman. After serving two years, she received an honorable discharge. Ella was a writer, artist, photographer and poet. She was a Detroit-Hamtramck and Detroit National Poetry Slam Coach, educator, activist, and was a co-founder of the poetry performance group "Convergence", which consisted of the members Ella Singer, Sunonda Sumaddar, and Aurora Harris. She was a great friend and inspiration to many youths and adults. As co-director in the Wayne State University Youth Urban Agenda, Ella performed over 10 years in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs, educating youth locally and globally on civic literacy and facilitating workshops and conferences in the metro Detroit middle schools, high schools, and universities; she taught art and poetry workshops in juvenile detention facilities, libraries, coffee shops, boys and girls homes for displaced youth, and art for youth at the Detroit African World Festivals. Ella painted the backdrops for the plays of Ron Allen, who was a Detroit poet and playwright. She was the founder of Plantation Studios, her cultural arts studio. She was an arts mentor at the Arts League of Michigan. She was a recipient of the Pushcart Prize in 2002. She was the civic literacy counselor and project coordinator at Wayne State University Youth Urban Agenda Civic Literacy Project from 1998 to 2002. She was also an associate member and performance coach of Parenting Stress Index Inc. from 1998 to 2003; she won Best Team Performance in 2002. Ella has been listed as a notable writer and artist by Marquis Who’s Who. She was a member of the "Sisters of Color Writers Collective" and performed as "The Church Lady" in the poem that addressed traumas women experienced, which was co-written by the poets in the collective. She was an avid walker who made and painted her own walking sticks from tree branches; she enjoyed rock and jazz music. Ella was a sister-friend-mother to many; she possessed a servant’s heart and a humble spirit and was always willing to help anyone she could. She loved mentoring the inner city youth, giving them a voice and a platform, and empowering them to be bold in their convictions. Her students were heartbroken when she had a stroke sixteen years ago and was no longer able to continue her mission of mentoring and empowering the youth. Her only child, Brandon Christopher Clark, was her pride and joy. She instilled in him a faith, in which he eventually has come to profess the Lord as his own personal Savior. She also gave him a love of art and writing. They were inseparable; Brandon took the lead in caring for his mother when she became incapacitated.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Ella’s friends, who will hold a memorial service to honor her memory for all the good she’s done in the Detroit area.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Sadie Norris Sumling; grandparents, Will Ella Hall and Sandy Norris; 1 uncle, Charles Norris; 5 aunts, Albertha Norris Johnson, Geraldine Norris Shelton, Katie Norris Jones, Dorothy Norris Taylor, and Kathleen Tatum.

Ella leaves behind to cherish her beautiful memories: her beloved son, Brandon Clark of Katy, TX, step grandmother; Minnie Norris of Belzonie, MS; seven brothers and two sisters; Willie Norris (Irma) of Chicago, IL, Dorothy Sumling Fields of Katy, TX, Charles Sumling (Ellen) of Belflower, CA, Cleo Sumling of New Orleans, LA, Leroy Sumling Tatum of New Orleans, LA; Rowena Sumling Marable (Dexter) of Katy, TX; Raymond Sumling of Los Angeles, CA; Ronald Sumling (Yvette) of Houston, TX; Tyrone Sumling (Aslean) of Chicago, IL; three uncles; Melvin Spearman of Dallas, TX, Melvin Norris of Indianola, MS, Ricky Norris of Belzonie, MS; four aunts; Turetha Norris Robinson of Holly Springs, MS, Ethel Norris of Chicago, IL, Linda Lastie Archer (Charles) of Pooler, GA, and Mary Norris Hart (Billy T) of Belzonie, MS; lifelong friends; Scott Klein, Barbara Klein, Aurora Harris, Sunonda Sumaddar, Leslie French and a host nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Thank you for your kindness and love! We appreciate and love you. May the Lord bless and keep you is our fervent prayer for each of you.