Ella Spriggs Barnes

Ella Cook Spriggs Barnes, the daughter of Albert A. and Dora B. Spriggs, was born at home, 1020 Druid Hill avenue in Baltimore, Maryland on March 30, 1909. She departed this life on the morning of Saturday, April 11, 2015, having sojourned for 106 years. Ella was educated in the Baltimore City Public School System. She attended Frederick Douglass High School, then located on the corner of Dolphin Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, graduating in June 1925. She continued her education studying for one year at Fanny Jackson Coppin Normal School and one year at Lincoln Hospital in New York City, where she was trained in the nursing profession. Ella worked most of her life. First and foremost she was a homemaker. Outside of the home she worked as a Nanny for The Hammermans, a Jewish family who lived in the Park Heights Community. Her devotion to the Hammerman children earned her the titles, “other mother' and "real mother" and their devotion to her remained constant, as they communicated and visited her up until the day she transitioned. Ella was a woman of strong faith. A cradle roll member of Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, she became a Sunday School Teacher at age 16 and remained a faithful and active member until she transferred her membership to John Wesley United Methodist Church in 1960, as suggested by the late Bishop Edward Carroll, in order that she might be closer to her home. at her new church home, she taught Sunday School and was a member of the United Methodist Women and the Wesleyites, of which she is an honorary member; she also worked in the church's clothing outreach ministry on Wednesdays. Ella had a beautiful singing voice and never refused to sing when asked. She loved singing the old hymns the church. Among her many favorites were, "If Jesus Goes With Me", "His Eye is on the Sparrow", and "I Found the Answer". She sang with the Great Hymns Choir, directed by Rev. D. Rideout. Her favorite scripture, exemplified in her work as a Sunday School Teacher, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15. "Put God first in your life; love others as God loves you, and forgive others as God forgives you" were foundational principals she lived by. Ella shared her life with her first husband Richard Coates, who she wed at the age of twenty-two. In July of 1949, she married widower Wellington Matthews and became Mama Ella to seven children, and later Grandma Ella to her grandchildren. Mama Ella loved her family and they loved her. When her husband, James "Jimmy" McAllister, Sr. she raised the younger children. She also helped to raise her great and great-great-grandchildren. In 1970, she married William E. Barnes. They loved to travel and often spent summer vacations on the Eastern shore where they owned a home. They lived happily until his death in 1985. Mama Ella also outlived her parents, her siblings, four brothers and one sister, her seven children, numerous grandchildren, and many other relatives and friends. She leaves to cherish her loving memory: devoted grandchildren, James Jr. (Natalie), Michael (Denise), and Penny; great-grandchildren, Shannee, Michael, Michael Jr., and Michelle; great-great-grandchildren, Michael and Jasmine; the Hammerman children and Family, her Church Family, her Manor Care Family; a host of other relatives, friends, and associates.

Tributes

Ella Spriggs Barnes

March 30, 1909 - April 11, 2015