Elsie was born to Thomas Nathan and Flora Estella Griffith in Bowie County, Texas. When she came to Houston in the forties, she lived next door to the Wilson family on Rutland Street in the Heights and she married the youngest son, Justus. She graduated from Reagan High School in 1949. Over the years, she worked for J. W. Weingarten's, Reagan State Bank and BP.

However, more important than her professional work was her devotion to Jesus Christ.

Elsie was a devoted Christian woman who served Him throughout her life. Fifty-nine of those years were served alongside her husband in congregations of the Lord's church in the Houston area.

She was a lifelong student and teacher of the Bible. One of her son's fondest childhood memories is lying with his head on her lap every night listening as she read stories from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible. Elsie taught children's Bible classes, shared the gospel of Christ by correspondence with prison inmates, and had a mailing list of individuals to whom she mailed copies of the Gospel Minutes each week. Up until about a year ago, she was still auditing online courses from Sunset International Bible Institute.

Elsie loved to cook and share meals with the church members every Sunday night and Wednesday night. For many years, she prepared Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and carried them to the church fellowship hall for anyone who wanted to come; and many did. She baked fruit cakes for special people in her life every Christmas.

Elsie's life was Christ-centered. She loved Him with all her heart and with all her soul and with all her mind. Christ truly lived in her and she lived her life by faith in Him.