Levy County woman to celebrate 100th birthday

Amelia Erwin will celebrate her 100th birthday Sunday, Oct. 9 at the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall in Williston from 3 - 5 p.m. All former students, colleagues, family and friends are invited to the reception.
Erwin was born Oct. 4, 1911, as one of eight children to William Wofford, a lumber contractor, and Lillie Jane Williams.
She was raised and attended school in Ellzey, a town named after her family. Her great-grandfather built and founded the Ellzey Methodist Church, of which Erwin was a member. She later graduated from Bronson High School.
On Aug. 5, 1930, she married Louis Thomas Erwin. They had four children: She has 12 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
After her husband's death at the age of 42, Erwin taught school in Ellzey, Cedar Key, Chiefland and Otter Creek. She earned a master's degree in education in 1952. She became the principal of Cedar Hill Elementary School in Jacksonville in 1957.
In 1968, Erwin came to Williston and served one year as principal of Williston Elementary School and then as principal of Williston Middle School until her retirement in 1976.
In addition to her 33 years in public education, she spent many years as a Sunday school teacher and director of the Junior Church at Hendricks Memorial Methodist Church in Jacksonville. She has a Sunday school class named for her at Williston United Methodist Church, where her circuit-riding grandfather, the Rev. Robert Marvin Ellzey, served as pastor from 1872-1875.
She is a past matron of the Otter Creek Order of Eastern Star, a member of the Retired Teachers Association and a member of the Gamma Iota Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma.