Ella Lee Fountain Flowers

Passed 05/15/2022

Obituary For Ella Lee Fountain Flowers

Ella Lee Fountain Flowers, 98, of Richmond, departed this life May 15, 2022. She was born November 16, 1923, the second of eight children to Hugh Lee Fountain and Mildred Woodson Fountain in Richmond. Shortly after birth her mother contracted her name to “Ellalee”. Due to institutional racism throughout the United States in the 1920’s she, like many other African Americans was born in the family home of her paternal grandparents, Mitchell Fountain and Ella Lee Fountain at 911 N. St. James Street in Jackson Ward.

Ellalee joined the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church at an early age where she was a member of the Girl Scouts. She matriculated through the Richmond Public Schools (Navy Hill Elementary, Booker T. Washington Junior High, and Armstrong High). She graduated at age 15 in 1939 from Armstrong High School at the top of her class, and was selected Class Historian.

She then enrolled in Virginia State College for Negroes (now Virginia State University) in Ettrick, Virginia, where she joined her older sister and best friend Mildred. Both were initiated into the Alpha Eta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., in 1939 and 1941, respectively. Ellalee graduated at the top of her class in 1943 with a B.S. degree in business administration.

After graduation, she accepted a position in the president’s office of Southern Aid Life Insurance Company, the largest Black-owned insurance company in the South. While working at Southern Aid, Ellalee enrolled in the Masters of Education program a Columbia University in New York City. Her course work was completed in four summer sessions, all paid for by Commonwealth of Virginia, pursuant to the Dovell Act of 1935. Under the Dovell Act the tuition of Black students who sought terminal degrees was paid for out-of-state universities, rather than desegregate Virginia institutions. The Dovell Act lasted from 1935 to 1962. Ellalee graduated in 1947.

In 1950, Ellalee wed Stafford Alvin Flowers and to that union, Jan Yolette and Gary Lamont were born.

Ellalee was an 80-year member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and an active member of the Richmond Alumnae Chapter, both serving as Chair of the Habitat for Humanity and the Political Awareness Committees. She also was a lifelong member of the NAACP, and served as the secretary for the Richmond Chapter.

From 1945 to 1979, she taught business courses at Maggie L. Walker High School, retiring as Head of the Business Department. In addition, she taught night school for adults, and instructed elementary students she affectionately called her “little people”.

In 1979, she accepted a faculty position in the Sydney Lewis School of Business at Virginia Union University, from which she retired in 1987.

Ellalee was preceded in death by her husband, Stafford A. Flowers. Surviving are her daughter, Jan; son, Gary; other relatives and friends. Remains rest at Scott’s Funeral Home, 115 E. Brookland Park Blvd. A wake will be held Friday, May 20, at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 216 W. Leigh Street, beginning at 6:00 pm for the Delta Sigma Theta Omega Omega Service followed by the National Epicurean ritual at 7:00 pm. And where funeral services will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, May 21. Interment Monday, May 23 at 1 p.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund in the name of Mrs. Ellalee Fountain Flowers.