Funeral for Maurice Coover Elledge, 94, will be at 11:00 am Wednesday at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev William F. Todd, Centenary Methodist Church officiating. Maurice died on Friday October 19 in Lawton. Burial will be at Highland Cemetery.

Maurice was born on October 1, 1913 to Mabel Coover and Loyd Elledge in Amber, OK and graduated from Chickasha High School in 193l. He worked at his father’s Chickasha Monument Company from a young age until he married Peggy Shepard in 1936. They moved to Oklahoma City where he worked for Page Aircraft and the OK State Corporation Commission as a graphics designer; when WWII began, he entered the military briefly but soon returned to Oklahoma City to become a Pullman Conductor with the Rock Island and Santa Fe Railroad Lines moving troops from middle America to posts on the West Coast.

In 1947 he came to Lawton with his family, who now included daughter Peggy and son Chris, to be a partner with Sam Maddux in the Lawton Monument Company, and became sole owner in 1953. His youngest daughter Patti was born in Lawton. When Urban Renewal was in process, Maurice?s business was the first established business to move to Downtown Lawton and assist with its redevelopment. He retired from the Lawton Monument Company in 1976, leaving his son Chris and his wife Debbie and grandson Bill to carry on the "stonecutting" tradition. With his wife Peggy, they divided their time between Lawton and their home in Hot Springs AR where they fished on Lake Hamilton and "rode" the ponies at Oaklawn Racing Track.

Maurice was proud to be a member of the Downtown Kiwanis Club, a 32nd Degree Mason and a longtime contributor to the Salvation Army. He was a member of Centenary Methodist and First Methodist Churches here in Lawton.

Maurice is survived by his children Peggy Elledge Long, Chris Elledge and his wife Debbie, Lawton and Patti Elledge of Ashville, NC; his grandchildren Lori Long Garcia, Phoenix, AZ; Bill Elledge, Lawton and Samantha and David Atchley, Lawton; 4 great grandchildren, Casey, Jonah and Indigo Garcia of Phoenix and Toni Atchley, Lawton. He is also survived by his nephews Franklin Elledge and his wife Donna, Chickasha; Mike Reeves and his wife Opal, Tulsa; and friends Dean Paramore, Byron Aycock, Jean Riddle, Lawton; Kay and Richard Steed, Peggy Link, Hot Springs, AR; and Vann Greer and Jim Andrews, Oklahoma City.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Peggy; his mother, father, brother, sister and their spouses. Contributions may be made to the Hospice of Southwest Oklahoma?s building fund.

An online guestbook and sympathy cards are available at www.grayfuneral.com.