Just six days after she was born, her father Smith passed away. Her older sister, Eva, died the previous year. When she was two years old she and her mother moved from Walnut (then Lemon), California, to Covina with the Overholtzer family. They purchased acreage on West Rowland Avenue (Double Drive). When her mother, Katie, married neighbor Perry Bashore in 1889, Elsie became the oldest child in a family eventually numbering five children. She was the half-sister of Quinter, Noah, Lee, and Zella Bashore. At the age of 18, in 1904, Elsie was married to a local man, James Perry, and they settled on Italia Street in Covina where he delivered groceries for Warner & Whistle in a horse-drawn wagon. He also worked as a tree trimmer and ranch hand on the Griffith Ranch. They established the Perry dairy on north Citrus Avenue in Covina in the early 1920s which they operated along with the adjoining seven acres of oranges. When James Perry died in 1928, Elsie and the seven children operated the family dairy business. There were difficult times, especially during the Depression, but the family managed and persisted. The dairy functioned until 1945. Elsie sold most of her dairy farm and citrus ranch property in 1953 to a housing developer. When the homes were completed, she bought (or negotiated for) a house directly west of the family home. She moved into that home (18448 E. Benbow St.) in 1954, leaving the old family home vacant. She lived in the new house until late 1963 when she had a stroke. She spent a brief convalescence in the home of her daughter, Hazel, until her passing.
Elsie hosted extended family gatherings on Christmas Eve, until 1963, serving her traditional, and delicious strawberry pie. Her seven children, their spouses and children and great-children all in attendance (over 30 in 1963). Her favorite color was blue, she often wore her favorite blue sweater with a roll of peppermint life savers in its pocket.