Greenfield mayor Chuck Fewell, left, shares a laugh with former mayor Pat Elmore during the spring primary returns at the Hancock County Courthouse Annex on May 2, 2023. Elmore passed away last week after a lifetime of community service.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Former Greenfield mayor Patricia Elmore passed away Monday, July 3.
She was 87.
Elmore was a beloved longtime community servant, having served as Greenfield’s mayor from 1996 to 1999.
Before that she served 21 years as Greenfield Clerk-Treasurer from 1976 to 1995, and eight years as Hancock County Clerk from 1968 to 1975.
Her daughter Lori Elmore, the youngest of five children, followed in her mother’s footsteps, serving as Greenfield Clerk-Treasurer since 2016. She also shared a home with her mom.
After making funeral arrangements Wednesday afternoon, she fought back tears trying to find the best words to describe her mother.
“Generous, kind, considerate, thoughtful … She was irreplaceable, she was a role model, and a friend to everybody she ever met,” said Lori.
When notifying their neighbors of her mother’s passing, she wasn’t surprised to hear how well loved her mom had been.
“Every one of them said, ‘When I first arrived she brought over a pot of soup’ or something to make them feel welcome,” Lori recalled. “That’s who my mother was. She wanted everybody to feel welcome and love Greenfield as much as she did.”
Elmore was born in Anderson but moved to Greenfield in the mid 1950s, making it her permanent home.
Known as a dedicated civil servant throughout her lifetime, Elmore was a fixture at local community events up until her passing.
In May she was among the crowd of people who came to hear the spring primary election results at the Hancock County annex building, where she shared a laugh with Greenfield mayor Chuck Fewell.
“Pat has been a governmental servant all of her life. She served diligently for the city,” said Fewell.
“I found her to be a very grounded, well-rounded person who was always willing to help with anything you needed. Just look around the city and we can see the tributes that were paid to her prior to her passing,” he said.
Most notably are the Patricia Elmore Center that serves as the headquarters for the Greenfield Parks Department, and an Elmore Substation named for her by Greenfield Power & Light.
“When you have those kinds of things that paid tribute to her even before her passing, that just shows the level of respect she had by people in the community,” said Fewell. “She’s well represented throughout the city.”
Although she never worked with her directly, Greenfield parks director Ellen Kuker quickly learned of Elmore’s legacy when she started working at the Patricia Elmore Center over 10 years ago.
“I didn’t have the pleasure of working with her but she had a tremendous legacy here in Greenfield,” said Kuker. “There is a picture of her that hangs in the vestibule as you first come into the Elmore Center, so I kind of knew by virtue of that that she was an important person in the community.”
Assisted by a walker and most often accompanied by her daughter Lori, Elmore continued to attend ground breakings and ribbon cuttings held throughout the city.
“I thought it was indicative of her commitment to the community, that she was still attending as many of those events as she could,” said Kuker.
Marciann McClarnon-Miller, whose father Keith served as Greenfield’s mayor from 1976 to 1996, remembers Elmore as a faithful community servant.
“She was my dad’s clerk treasurer for 20 years. She was amazing,” McClarnon-Miller said.
“She was always a great partner to my dad. They were blessed to have an opportunity to serve Greenfield during a time of unbelievable growth and prosperity. She was forward thinking and always put the city of Greenfield first.”
Not one to seek the limelight, Elmore was instrumental in launching a number of local programs like Sister Cities of Greenfield.
“There’s so many things she did behind the scenes that people probably never realized she ever did because she didn’t look for the acknowledgement and the recognition for it,” said her daughter Lori. “She just did it because that’s what her heart told her she should be doing.”
Visitation services will be held Thursday, July 13 at Erlewein Mortuary in Greenfield, starting with an Eastern Star service at 2 p.m. followed by visitation from 2:15-8 p.m.
A public funeral service will be held at noon July 14 at Greenfield Christian Church, where Elmore was a longtime member.
Her obituary can be viewed at ErleweinMortuary.com and will appear in the Greenfield Daily Reporter later this week.
