Elaine Houston Cline

After struggling with cancer since 1997, Elaine Houston Cline died peacefully on August 6, 2018 at the age of 94. She was born on February 25, 1924 in Philadelphia, PA to Louis Rabe and Golda Bowman, attended high school in Upper Darby, PA and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Gettysburg College, where she met her husband, Stanley Lyon Houston. Following the war, Stanley was ordained as a minister at the Longmeadow Congregational Church. Elaine and he were married for 46 years until his death in 1990. For thirty of those years they served the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church in Fairfield, CT, where they raised three sons, Paul Lyon Houston, Douglas White Houston, and Stanley Kimball Houston. In addition to her duties as a minister’s wife, Elaine taught math in Stamford, CT for 11 years. After the death of her husband Stanley, Elaine married Frank Vernon Cline, a lawyer from Middletown, NY. He died in 1997.

Elaine and Frank lived in Lake Placid Florida, where Elaine was President of a local chapter of 50 members of P. E. O., an organization that helps to improve women’s education by providing books and scholarships. Elaine had been a charter member of P.E.O. Chapter H in Fairfield, CT. She joined P.E.O.’s Chapter BD when she moved to Ithaca, and she participated in the chapter until her death.

Since she was 12 years old, Elaine was passionate about bridge; she later became a Silver Life Master of the American Bridge Association. She also enjoyed figure skating. As a youngster, she joined a roller skating club, but when an ice rink was built in Fairfield, she became a figure skating judge and a Silver ice dancer. Always athletic, she took up golf at the age of 65. More recently she began painting, studying from Catherine Montgomery at Brookdale in Ithaca.

Elaine was predeceased by her son Douglas, who died in 2003. She is survived by five wonderful grandchildren: Lindsey Blake Houston Salmony, Mallory Houston Nieman, and twins Douglas White Houston, Jr., and Spencer Hawkins Houston, all children of Douglas, and Christopher Whiting Houston, the son of Stanley. In addition to these grandchildren and her two surviving sons, she leaves three great grandchildren, Ian White Salmony, Wes Wolcott Salmony, and Aliya Christine Houston.

Donations in her memory may be made to Hospicare of Ithaca, to the Jacksonville Community Church, or to the NYS Chapter, P.E.O. Sisterhood, c/o Lisa Blystone, Treasurer, 2020 Murphy Rd. Marcellus, NY 13108. A memorial service at the Jacksonville Community Church will take place on Sunday, October 7, 2018 at 3:00 pm.