By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

Although deaf from birth and blind from childhood, Daisy Elaine King was never one to sit in a corner, sister-in-law Rose Marie King said.

“Elaine just never sat in a corner,” Rose Marie King said. “She enjoyed people. (She did) nothing that others would think amazing, but I just loved her spirit.”

Elaine King, who, due to her diminutive size was nicknamed affectionately “Tee Wee” or “Tee,” passed away Sept. 12 at the age of 77.

“She was a sweet, sweet lady and had a great sense of humor,” said Cherybe Thornton, an interpreter at the Deaf Church at Brookhills. “She loved to sing and dance. When she’d sing, she’s sign with her hands. She had several hymn books in Braille and sang to herself frequently, signing the words in the Braille hymnal.”

As a child, Elaine’s mother took her to the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind in Talladega to learn how to be independent, “to do for herself and manage her clothes and her room,” Rose Marie King said.

“She learned to do some pottery, which was primitive looking, but quite charming,” Rose Marie King said. “She taught herself to crochet. Her mother and father took her on trips, so she traveled a good bit within our country. When she lived with us, we began to take her to the deaf ministries at churches.”

Elaine’s grandfather owned a dairy in Pelham, which was passed down to her father. Rose Marie King said the dairy was located where Kingwood Christian School was built, and Elaine’s funeral will be held at Kingwood Church.

“Even when she was sick and in intensive care, she was never not OK,” Rose Marie King said. “The first time I carried her to the hospital, she signed to tell the nurses that she was smiling. That’s just the attitude she had.”