Elma Etta Jamieson

Elma Etta (Yarbrough) Jamieson was born near Frost, Texas, on “lucky” February 13, 1935, to Elmer Kenneth (E.K.) Yarbrough and Karen Helene (Olsen) Yarbrough. She spent her early years in Port Arthur, Texas, where her father ran a café business and worked in the Gulf refinery there. The family then moved to central Texas to pursue several small businesses, where Elma grew up with her sister Sara and her brother Carvel. She attended high school in Bellmead, Texas, then transferred to and graduated from nearby Crawford High School. After raising her three children in a previous marriage in Houston, Texas, she met and married the love of her life, Jim Jamieson, there in 1979. After Jim retired from Gulf Oil, they enjoyed living in Denton, Texas, then Tyler, Texas, before relocating to Broomfield, Colorado, where she passed away on May 30, 2024.

Elma was a modest woman, who was a beauty inside and out. She was a wonderful, loving and caring person, who took great pride in her roles as a mother, homemaker, companion and caregiver. She took those roles to heart in raising her family and in caring for her beloved mother and husband as he struggled at his life’s end. Her devotion was complete, tender and inspiring to witness.

She had a wonderful innate aesthetic sense that she brought to everything she did and everything she wore, which always made a lasting impression on those around her. She loved creating a warm, welcoming and stylish home environment and always had just that perfect little curio or decoration that made you smile and feel at home. A Texan through and through, she had grit when required but was truly a genteel southern woman with all the charm that that implies.

Elma was somewhat of a private person who had a big heart, always with a place for the underdog. She had a delightful sense of humor and good timing with a funny comment—a pleasure to be around. She always wanted folks to feel at ease. Elma was always there for her loved ones and had a fierce sense of loyalty to them. Her greatest pleasure was to visit with and be good to family and friends, whether it was making a magnificent meal, giving a perfect card or gift, or just lending a compassionate ear or a shoulder to lean on. Her second greatest pleasure was shopping for that perfect item, and better yet if it was on sale! Although she could be demure at times, she was chatty when you got to know her. She was tactful in disagreements, but she stood fast on her beliefs. She had faith in, and a personal relationship with, God and Jesus Christ, and was always attuned to possible angels among us and signs from the other side. If you expressed an interest in such things, you had a friend in her!

Elma was a proud member of the BK chapter of P.E.O. in Denton, Texas, and held her sisters there in high regard. Even after relocating to Colorado later in life, she would recount her days when she was most active there with great fondness.

We trust that she is now with her Lord and Savior, and also with her beloved parents, brother, and husband, Jim. Elma and Jim simply adored one another and shared in their love of shopping in the pursuit of making their home lovely and stylish. And, together they were there for their blended family. It was kismet that she and Jim found each other later in life, but it was a match made in heaven, which will now continue on there for all the ages.

She will be remembered tenderly and joyfully by many whose lives she touched in her special, stylish and charming way. She was loved and will be sorely missed.

Elma is survived by her children Sandy Chandler (Wendy Carle), Kellye Chandler and John Chandler (Becky); step-children Chris Jamieson, Julie Hoffman (Rob) and Courtney Oppel (Glenn); grandchildren Evan and Matt Chandler, Hollie and Alex Chandler; step-grandchildren Stefan and Mikayla Hoffman, Ethan and Maddie Oppel; and great-grandchild Dallas Lee. Also, she is survived by her sister Sara Henderson (Leroy); nieces Teri Hall, Jennifer Mercer (Billy Joe) and Susan Yarbrough; nephews David Hall, Jeffrey Henderson and Michael Yarbrough.