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Obituary

Veteran license official Elma Culberson dies at 66

The South Westshore woman loved her career and was one of the first women the state hired as a driver's license examiner.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published February 18, 2005

ELMA CULBERSON

1938-2005

SOUTH WESTSHORE - Only two things really mattered to Elma Culberson: her work and her family.

But she was so passionate about both that she enjoyed a rich life, her daughter said.

Her job wasn't the kind that most people would find glamorous or even fulfilling, but Mrs. Culberson loved every minute of her 29-year career with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

"She couldn't wait to go into work," said her only child, Connie Gonzalez. "She liked the job and she liked meeting the people. She hardly ever even called in sick, she loved the work that much."

She died Feb. 8 at age 66.

In 1970, Mrs. Culberson was one of the first women the state of Florida hired to be a driver's license examiner.

Over the years, she worked several jobs in different driver's license offices in Tampa.

From 1981 until 1985 she was a revocation officer, investigating people who were on the verge of losing their licenses because of health or safety concerns. In 1985, she became supervisor of driver improvement, overseeing officers who conducted hearings for people seeking to get revoked licenses reinstated.

A lifelong struggle with diabetes led to failing eyesight, and she retired, unwillingly, in 1999.

"She always said that she'd still be working if her eyes hadn't gotten so bad," her daughter said.

Mrs. Culberson and her family lived next door to her mother for many years. Her husband, Edward, spent most of his career as the produce manager for Whaley's Supermarket on Howard Avenue and over the years often appeared on WFLA-Ch. 8 with a "vegetable of the week."

The couple divorced in 1976, when Connie was a young girl.

"For a long time it was just me and her," she said. "She was a cool mom. I was the envy of my high school. All my friends knew my mom, and I didn't know most of their parents. My mom hung out with us."

Mr. and Mrs. Culberson reunited and remarried in 1991, and stayed together in their South Westshore home until her death.

Mrs. Culberson's mother passed away in 2001, but the house next door didn't stay vacant for long. Connie Gonzalez, her husband and their two children bought the house so they could be close to the Culbersons.

As much as she had loved being a mother, Mrs. Culberson found something she liked even more: being a grandmother to Daniel and Casey.

"I was replaced," her daughter said. "But in a good way."

In the last four years of Mrs. Culberson's life, she lived for her family and friends and her dogs, Ceely and Haywood. She spent hours talking on the phone.

On Feb. 3, she had surgery to correct an intestinal problem. It was serious surgery, but everyone expected that she would recover quickly.

But in the hospital she developed a condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome. Five days later, she died.

Besides her husband, daughter and grandchildren, Mrs. Culberson is survived by a brother, a sister and a half brother.

[Last modified February 17, 2005, 10:50:08]