On April 27, 2025, beloved mother, sister and church member Elma Ree Royster went to be with the Lord.

Elma was born on November 7, 1936, in Thomasville, Alabama to Jim and Lena Williams. She grew up on the family farm with her three sisters and two brothers. Elma was not the typical middle child.  Although she was always hardworking, studious and caring, she earned a reputation as a prankster. No one was safe from her creative antics. She enjoyed playing basketball, hanging out with her friends and attending church services at the family's church, Shady Union Baptist Church.  Elma also liked house cleaning, a skillset she developed much to the appreciation of her siblings.      

She graduated from Marengo High School in Dixons Mills, Alabama, then left her country life to attend Alabama State University in Montgomery...Go Hornets!  In between getting arrested on several occasions for protesting segregation with a novice preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr. she studied hard and earned a bachelor's degree in Library Science in 1959.

After graduation, she moved to New Jersey and began her career as an elementary school teacher. During one summer, Elma met Cleo Johns, a caterer in Newark, and the two became fast friends. Cleo introduced Elma to her cousin, Lafayette Royster, Jr., from Montclair, because she thought they would be a good match.  She was right. 

Elma and Lafayette were married on November 2, 1963.  Elma began her tenure as a second grade school teacher in Paterson where she loved shaping young lives.  Later in her professional career, she earned a master's degree in education. After putting her younger sister, Ruthye, through college, (also Alabama State University) Elma and Lafayette started their family.  Their son, Kirk, was born in 1966.  The family moved to their new home in 1972, where Elma took great pride in decorating her house, toiling in her flower and plant gardens and cooking for family and friends.  

Elma took immense pride in her family and her southern roots. After each school year, Elma took Kirk to visit her family and childhood home in Alabama.  She taught him how to clean collard greens, make cornbread, collect eggs from the henhouse and wring the neck off a chicken and prepare it for dinner.  Elma was known as the family historian.  She dabbled in genealogy and traced her family roots to the early 1800s.  She also planned their first family reunion in the early 2000s and was instrumental in planning subsequent reunions.

Elma had a reputation as a cheerful, hardworking woman.  On weekends, she worked a part-time job with Cleo's catering company to help pay for Kirk's education.  She also took pride in being a member and a missionary at St. Paul's Baptist Church.  She prepared meals for the homeless and those in need through the "Two Fish, Five Loaves" initiative.   

In addition to her parents, Jim and Lena Williams, Elma was predeceased by her husband Lafayette Royster, Jr., father and mother-in-law, Lafayette Royster, Sr. and Rosa Royster, sisters Nancy Brown and Doris Trussell, and brother, James Williams.  

Elma is survived by her son, Kirk Royster, daughter-in-law, Barbara, sister Ruthye Armwood-Ferrell, brother and sister-in-law Edward and Vernice Williams, many nieces and nephews, cousins  and countless friends.

Her smile, warmth and empathy will be missed by all who knew her.