Elizabeth M James
6/24/1932 - 2/10/2021

Elizabeth Mickelsen James, age 88, retired Bandera County
Treasurer, passed away in San Antonio, Tx. She was born June 24, 1932 to Grant Marshall Mickelsen and Teoline Torgerson Mickelsen in the Colony community in Bee County, Texas. Her first two years of school, she attended the little Colony School, which consolidated with the Pettus, Tuleta, & Normanna School District, where she attended school through her freshman year in high school. At commencement exer¬cises in Pettus that year, she received an award for having the highest grades of any student in the entire school.
After her parents sold their farm and ranch in Bee County, she moved with them, her paternal grandmother, Tina Wright, and a great uncle, Jim Berkeland, to Tarpley in Bandera County, where they bought a ranch. Elizabeth then attended Medina High School from 1947 to 1950 when she graduated as Valedictorian of her class. Following graduation she was offered a job at Hunter Publishing Company in Bandera where she acquired valuable know¬ledge working with the late J. Marvin Hunter, Sr., Mrs. Nettie Saul, and Ray Marvin Hay, owners of the Bandera Bulletin.
On August 3, 1952, she married Bandera native, John Grover James at the First Baptist Church in Medina with the late Ben F. Thompson performing the ceremony. They made their home at Tarpley and in Bandera, and were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Minneana Elizabeth James, in 1958. Johnnie passed away in September 2008.
In 1956 Elizabeth accepted a position at the First National Bank (now Bandera Bank) where she was employed from time to time for a total of seven years. After leaving the bank, she accepted a position at the office of the late Roscoe Hayes, County and District Clerk, where she worked for almost three years before she took office of Bandera County Treasurer, to which she was elected without opposition for six terms from 1971 until she retired after serving 24 years on December 31, 1994. Following retirement, she has worked part-time as a receptionist at Grimes Funeral Chapels in Bandera.
Elizabeth was active in the community and served as the first Cancer Crusade chairman in Bandera County in 1955; was treasurer of the Bandera County Junior Livestock Show from 1964 to 1979; served on the Board of Directors of Frontier Times Museum and was the treasurer and bookkeeper from 1972 to 1989. She was an honorary member of the Bandera FFA Chapter, was a member of the County Treasurer's Association of Texas, and since 1960 has been an active member of the Bandera United Methodist Church where she taught Sun¬day School many years and served as Communion Steward 23 years.
Survivors include her daughter, Minneana James of Bandera; cousins, nieces and nephews, and many friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and infant daughter, Mickeleen Jennette James, and infant brother, Timon Marshall Mickelsen.
A viewing will take place at Grimes Funeral Chapels of Bandera Tx. on Thursday, February 25, 2021 from 12-2 pm, funeral services at 2pm with burial to follow at Bandera Cemetery. Reverend Kyle Toomire and Pastor Martin Smith will be officiating.
The family of Elizabeth James wishes to extend our sincere thanks to Haven Stone Oak, Lidia Moncada and family.
Memorials may be made to Bandera United Methodist Church, P.O, Box 128, Bandera, TX 78003; Bandera Cemetery Assn., P. O. Box 424^. Bandera, TX 78003; Frontier Times Museum, P. O. Box 1918, Bandera, TX 78003; or to the Alzheimer Association.

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