EVERGREEN--As a cardinal watched from a limb outside her bedroom window, and family members sat by her side recalling an amazing life, Elsie Effler Robinson, 92, crossed most peacefully from Earth to Heaven on Monday afternoon, June 2, 2008. She was born April 11, 1916, to John and Rhodila Effler in Erwin, Tennessee. She grew up at the age of eight, when she had to take care of her ailing mother and younger siblings for the next thirteen years, cooking and cleaning, working in the tobacco fields. She married Wayne Robinson when she was 21. They raised a family of seven children and had 57 wonderful years together until his death in 1995. Elsie was highly creative; yet, she never thought of her talents as such. If she needed a chair, she could build one. During her early years, she made and sold hooked rugs. A lifelong self-taught seamstress, she could look at an outfit in a catalog and make it. Never bought a pattern. She crocheted in similar fashion, up until a few months before her death, making sure all the babies of the family slept warmly beneath her tiny blankets. She put her sewing expertise to good use for many years at her job with Appomattox Garment Company, where she found several lifelong friends. Her cooking skills began at age eight on her mama's woodstove, and she enjoyed nothing better than preparing huge family feasts every Sunday for many years, though she never made a casserole. Life was not always easy, but Elsie maintained her sense of humor. A cow once stepped on her foot during milking. Upon extricating her squashed toes, Elsie hauled off and kicked the cow with her other foot, breaking a toe in the process. But, she hobbled home with a smile and a good story to tell. One night, she opened the back door and was sprayed by a skunk. She nonchalantly strolled into the living room and sat on the couch by Wayne, as if nothing had happened. Her mind and wit remained sharp until her last few days. Along with such great stories and memories, Elsie leaves, as her legacy, her family. She is survived by six children: Barbara Rush and husband, C.B.; Kathleen White and husband, Billy; Ralph Robinson and wife, Harriette; Ted Robinson; Peggy Smith and husband, James; and Nadine Robinson. Also surviving are her brother and sister, Horace Effler and Maude Trump, twelve grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, six great-great-grandchildren, and a special son-in-law, Gerald Leffers and wife, Joanne. Along with her parents, husband, a sister and two brothers, she was preceded in death by her daughter, Erma Leffers. The family would like to thank two special women, Candice Younger and Jennifer Cyrus, who, along with daughter Nadine, lovingly cared for Elsie in her final months. Funeral services will be conducted by the Rev. Bruce Johnson at Robinson Funeral Home in Appomattox on Thursday, June 5 at 11 a.m., with burial to follow in the Harvey Family Cemetery in Vera. The family will receive friends tonight, from 6:30 until 8:00 at the funeral home, and at other times at the residence in Evergreen. Thus ends a long life, well lived. Grannie Elsie is smiling down at us from Heaven, where she has an eternity of wool thread and crochet needles, an endless pond full of big fish for her to catch, the Bible and countless romance novels to read, acres of petunias and begonias, all the birds of the world to watch, and all the Long John Silver's fish she cares to eat--but, no cows or skunks! We will never forget her.