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Classification: Obituary
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OBITUARY FOR ELMA LUCILLE BROWN COSBY PETTY - Elma Petty of Indianapolis, died April 8, in
Canterberry Village Nursing Home in Indianapolis. Born June 11, 1899, on a farm at
Shawnee Mound, in Tippecanoe county, she attended schools in Lafayette. She married
Leonel Herold Cosby on April 16, 1922. He preceded her in death. On July 29, 1951, she
married Professor Ben H. Petty in West Lafayette. He was a long-time dean of the Purdue
Road School and a professor of highway engineering. He died Jan 7, 1960, in Dothan,
Alabama, while they were en route to their retirement home in Sarasota, Florida. Mrs.
Petty lived in Florida for nine years. She moved to Indianapolis for a year, then
returned to Lafayette, where she resided until moving to Elkhart in 1976.
Failing health necessitated her move to the nursing facility in 1988. While living in
Lafayette, she had been employed during the 1930s and 1940s in retail sales, commercial
photo finishing and as a bookkeeper for Graves Bakery for 12 years before retiring in
1951. She was a member of lambda Tau Delta sorority, Gray Ladies and various groups
associated with Trinity United Methodist church, where she was a live long member except
for the years she lived in Florida. When she lived in Elkhart, she was associated with
Trinity United Methodist church, attended its Diners' Club and participated in a
telephone ministry to church shut-ins. Surviving are a daughter, Patricia L. Holcomb, of
Elkhart, a son, Jerry L. Cosby of Indianapolis, a stepson, Joe H. Petty of Terre Haute and
a sister, Edna N. Gable of Oswego, Illinois.