Helen M. Ellis

Helen Margaret (McCall) Ellis, 93, of rural Parsons, passed away at 1:25 a.m., Friday, February 5, 2016, at her home.

She was born March 22, 1922, in St. Paul, Kansas to Thomas Paul and Mary Ethel (Perl) McCall. She attended St. Francis Grade and High School, graduating in May of 1938. She returned for a post graduate year of Normal School Training to acquire a State Teacher's Certificate. Helen taught country school for two years and then attended Parsons Business College for four months before going to work in January of 1942 for the U.S. Engineer Office, War Department, in both Parsons and Kansas City, Missouri. She later worked for the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons until the end of World War II.

She married Myron Ellis on June 1, 1946, in the Mission Church at San Juan Capistrano, California. After five months in California, they returned to Kansas where he went to work for a road construction company. For the next twelve years, they lived in various places in Kansas including Liberty, Coffeyville, Independence, Winfield, Parsons, and Topeka, and in Missouri including Pleasant Hill, Liberty, Carrolton, Kansas City, Waynesville, and Knob Noster. They also lived in Riverdale, North Dakota and Irving, Texas. In 1959, upon returning to Kansas, they purchased a farm southwest of Parsons. She was preceded in death by her husband, Myron, on October 7, 2014.

Helen worked for the Agricultural Census, Fred Ronald Manufacturing Company, Linder-Mims Electrical, and Larry Allen Motor Car Company, formerly Gribben Motors, until retirement in 1989. She was also a bookkeeper for Rural Water District #2 for 21 years. She took a number of courses at Labette Community College on a variety of subjects.

Helen was a member of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Brown-Bishop Post No. 704 Auxiliary, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Army's 33rd Division Association, the Daughters of the American Revolution Pentagon Chapter, and TOPS #343. She was an avid KU Jayhawk fan.

Survivors include three daughters, Margie Ramsey, Parsons, KS, Sharon Ellis and Barbara Ellis, both of Springfield, VA; one son, John Ellis and his companion, Susan Marcroft, St. George, UT; eight grandchildren, Tom Ellis, Brandon Ellis and his wife, Andria, William "Doug" Ramsey and his wife, Sweta, Mike Ramsey and his wife, Jessica, Melanie Ramsey Neighbor and her husband, Marc, Kathie Ramsey Esposito and her husband, Joe, Alex Ellis, and Samantha Ellis; ten great-grandchildren, Chloe Neighbor, Jonas Ramsey, Atticus Ramsey, Mike Ramsey, Jr., Isabella Ramsey, Katie Florence, Kailee Ramsey-Westhoff, Ashtyn Esposito, Kaden Esposito, and Mattie Ellis; and two sisters, Eileen Gofourth of Colorado Springs, CO, and Janne Best of Springfield, VA.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by two sons, James Myron Ellis, on June 19, 2001, and Thomas Stanley Ellis, on October 26, 2010; a son-in-law, Richard Ramsey, on July 25, 2000; a grandson, Bobby Ellis, on July 13, 2012; a great-granddaughter, Raylen Ramsey, on December 15, 2000; four brothers, Paul Richard, Edward John, Roger Brian, and Matthew Joseph McCall; and two sisters, Patricia Ann Robbins and Mary Ethel Greene.

The funeral Mass will be at 10:00 a.m., Monday, February 8, 2016, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Parsons. Burial will be at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. The rosary will be prayed at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, at the Forbes-Hoffman Funeral Home in Parsons. The family will receive friends immediately following the rosary at 2:30 p.m., on Sunday, at the funeral home.

Memorials are suggested to St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Southeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging, or Brown-Bishop Post No. 704 Auxiliary. These may be left at or mailed to Forbes-Hoffman Funeral Home, 405 Main, P.O. Box 374, Parsons, KS 67357. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Helen M. Ellis, please visit our flower store.