Eleanor Owens Roper

Eleanor Owens Roper
- Easley
Eleanor Owens Roper, eighty-eight, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, religious educator, teacher and community servant was received by her Lord and Savior on January 18, 2011. Married forty-one years to the late James Cleo Roper, longtime Pickens County and Greenville County businessman, Rotarian and a member of Furman University�??s Athletic Hall of Fame, Nora Eleanor Owens Roper was born in Greenville, South Carolina, the second of nine children to the late Reverend Ocie Franklin Owens and the late Mollie Jane Knecht Owens. Eleanor was valedictorian of Calhoun Falls High School (1939) and graduated with honors from Anderson College (1941), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1943) and Furman College (1946), where she was also a member of Zestosophia honorary scholastic fraternity. In life, Eleanor was a religious and scholastic educator - for more than sixty years she was an active member in and servant to her beloved First Baptist Church of Easley, and a teacher and PTA life-member in the Easley (Pickens County) Schools. Throughout her life, since age six when she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, her simple life�??s philosophy themed the way she lived each day: "I�??ll do the best I can, with what I have, where I am, for Jesus�?? sake, today".


Eleanor is survived by her four adult children and their respective spouses: James Cleo Roper, Jr. (Gail) of Pendleton, SC; John Franklin Roper (Jo) of Knoxville, TN; Charles William Roper of Easley, SC and Sarah Jane Owens (Benny) of Easley, SC; her grandchildren: Tyler Roper, Jennifer Roper Johnson, Kelley Roper Garrity, Jamie Owens, Mollie Roper, Ellen Owens Holder, James Roper and Katie Owens; step-grandchildren: Richard Gillespie (Kellie), Greg Gillespie (Carol); and great-grandchildren: Vincent Johnson, III, Robbie Johnson, Lillian Garrity, William Garrity, and step-great-grandchildren: Lydia Gillespie, Jacob Gillespie, Bryson Gillespie, Corbin Gillespie, Mollie Jones and Madison Jones. She is also survived by her sister: Wilma Owings (David) of North Augusta, SC, brothers: David Owens (Joann) of Lake Wales, Fl, Lenard Owens (Jean) of Greenville, SC, sisters-in-law: Vivian Owens, Betty Owens and Ruth Bower of Greenville, SC, Argle (Hon) Thompson of Easley, SC; Martha Vickery (John), Easley, SC; Miriam Vickery, Spartanburg, SC; and brothers-in-law: Chester Holmes of Greenville, SC; John Roper (Ruth) and Earl Roper of Seneca, SC.


She was preceded in death by her parents: Reverend and Mrs. O. F. Owens of Greenville; sisters: Mary Thompson (Bill) of Easley and Esther Holmes of Greenville; brothers: Joe Owens, Ansel Owens and Lewis Owens of Greenville, SC.


Services will be held 2:00 PM Saturday, January 22, 2011. The receiving of guests (12:30�?"2:00 PM) in the Narthex of the First Baptist Church, 300 East First Avenue, Easley, SC, will be followed by the funeral and, thereafter, burial in Easley�??s Westview Cemetery. Services will be conducted by Dr. John Adams, assisted by Dr. Chester Holmes, Jr. and Rev. Ken Owens.


Honorary pallbearers are members of the Philathea Sunday School Class.


Memorials may be sent to the "Intercessory Prayer Ministry", First Baptist Church, 300 East First Avenue, Easley, South Carolina 29640.


Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or in person at Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown, which is assisting the family.