Graveside services will be at 2:00 P.M. on Monday, September 26, 2005 at Plainview Memorial Park Cemetery, Plainview, Texas. Elsie Maye Anderson Peckham was born on May 5, 1918 in Celeste, Texas to Lester and Martha Anderson. The family farmed in Duke, Oklahoma and Lockney, Texas. She graduated from Lockney High School when she was 14 years old. After graduation she stayed at home and worked on the farm with her brothers and sisters. In her spare time, she read every book she could get her hands on. At times, the book she was reading was so interesting that she would hide behind their piano to read instead of doing her farm chores. She was so little that no one else in the family could find her behind the piano. She wanted to be a doctor, but during the depression there wasn"t enough money to send her to medical school, so she went to Nurses School in Plainview. Upon her graduation as a Registered Nurse, she worked at Plainview Hospital. She moved to Lubbock and worked at Methodist Hospital. While she was in Lubbock, she met Lawrence "Larry" Allen Peckham, Jr., who was stationed at Reese Air Force Base. They married in Jan., 1942. Larry was transferred to Bryan, Texas, and Elsie worked at the Hospital in Bryan. Their daughter, Martha Ruth was born in September, 1943. After the war Elsie and Larry moved to Plainview. She worked at Plainview Hospital and then Lockney as the school nurse for seven years. She also worked at the Plainview Public Health Department, St. Mary"s Hospital in Lubbock as nurse supervisor and was also a private duty nurse. She and Larry owned Hillcrest Motel. Elsie wrote a cookbook, SUGARLESS COOKERY FOR THE GOURMET. Elsie was a long time resident of Plainview and moved to Canyon in 1996. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Plainview. She was preceded in death by her husband, Larry, four brothers, Clyde, Milt, Clay and Raymond, and three sisters, Mozelle Durham, Nellie Felder and Ellen Anderson. We will always remember her beautiful smile and how she was always willing to help people in need. She will be greatly missed but she will always be in our hearts. Survivors include one daughter, Martha Ruth Allred, of Canyon.