ELIZABETH SCHNEIDER BRATTEN
May 17, 1925 - June 5, 2022
Elizabeth Schneider Bratten was called to eternal life on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Elizabeth was born in Savannah, Georgia on May 17, 1925 to Robert Schneider and Martha Dacia Moore Schneider. She grew up during the great depression on Tybee Island, Georgia and graduated from Savannah High School in 1943.
Influenced by the attack on Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth entered the Warren A. Candler Hospital and School of Nursing in Savannah, Georgia. Graduating valedictorian of her class, she transferred to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington DC and cared for patients requiring psychiatric rehabilitation.
Elizabeth met Lt. Vernon G. Bratten, Jr., a 9th Army
Air Force member assigned to the European theater of operations, at a Christmas party in 1944. He asked if she would write him while he was overseas. Letters became love letters that could fill a book. Vernon called while overseas and proposed. When the handsome lieutenant returned to the United States in 1946, they were married in East Lansing, Michigan on December 21, 1946. They moved to Houston, where Elizabeth continued her nursing career with psychiatric patients at local hospitals until her second child was born. She delighted in nurturing her children.
After the last of their five children entered high school, Elizabeth’s love of learning led her to attend classes at Houston Baptist College before enrolling at the University of Houston, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. She took summer classes such as “Studies of the Classics” and Shakespeare’s significant tragedies at Keele University in England.
She became a member of the Delphian Society, an organization that supported women’s education. Elizabeth valued her time with the writers’ workshop, The Friday Line, which published three volumes that included her poetry. The most notable of these was “Christmas in Texas”. In later years, she attended classes at the Women’s Institute of Houston.
Elizabeth considered herself a homebody. Her books, garden, and writing filled her hours and days. Her delight was delivering bouquets of roses to family, neighbors, or friends. She rose early and worked late. She kept a small notebook in her pocket to jot down fresh writing ideas as she gardened or shopped.
Elizabeth loved to accompany Vernon on his frequent flights to New Orleans. She even took a training course to learn emergency landing procedures for the twin-engine Beechcraft. In addition, she traveled the world with her husband, exploring Australia, New Zealand, India, England, Ireland, France, Belgium, China, Japan, Russia, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
In 1969 they built a home on Sanibel Island, Florida, where she enjoyed the surf and walking on the beach collecting seashells, which reminded her of her childhood days on Tybee Island. In 2014 Vernon and Elizabeth celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary, surrounded by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Elizabeth is preceded in death by siblings Robert, Oscar, and Martha Schneider, son Robert Christopher Bratten, and husband Vernon G. Bratten, Jr. She is survived by four of her five children and their spouses, Guilford Bratten, Martha Bratten and Richard Owen, Martha and Stephen Bratten, Marcy Bratten, and Philip Bratten; nine grandchildren and their spouses, Jennifer Bratten, Stephen Bratten, Jr., Brittany and Richard Owen, Jr., Amanda Bratten and
Fred Lummis, Tracy Bratten and Tim Herbster, Gaby and Robert Bratten, Jr., Elizabeth Owen and Robert Roark, Margaret Owen, Katherine Owen and Luis Cedeño; and fourteen great-grandchildren, Samantha Jane Wagner, Matilda Pearl Lummis, Madeleine Jane Owen,
Abigail West Roark, Michael Bodden Owen, Rosemary Belle Lummis, Barrett Allyn Roark, Maddox William Owen, Mabel Louise Roark, Tabitha Sage Lummis, Lucas Robert Herbster, Matthew Richard Owen, Clementine Jane Roark, and Robert Christopher Bratten, III.
Isaiah 12:5, “Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.”
We wish to thank Estela Calderon and the caregivers of Ambassadors Caregivers. They gave tender care to our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother during the latter years of her life. In lieu of customary remembrances, please direct memorial contributions to the charity of your choice.
A Celebration of Elizabeth’s life will be conducted on Wednesday, July 6 at 11:00 in the chapel of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. Rev. Beth Case, Associate Pastor, will officiate. Immediately following the service, guests are invited to greet the family during a reception in the adjacent parlor. To view a live-streamed memorial service, go to OnlineMemorials.mdpc.org.