Ellen J. Elliott, a Bay Area activist who was a leader in the League of Women Voters and in the 10-year legal battle to desegregate mid-Peninsula schools, died on March 9, 2007 at her home in San Francisco. She was 73. Her death was due to complications from intestinal cancer, which she had braved for six years, undergoing five operations.
Ellen was born in Washington D.C. in 1933, the daughter of Paul O. Nyhus, a U.S. foreign service officer, and Jean Graham Nyhus. She grew up in Buenos Aires and then London, where she attended the Francis Holland School for Girls. She returned to the U.S. to attend the University of Wisconsin, earning a BA degree in business there in 1954.
Ellen entered the business world in Toronto, later moving to New York for management positions in market research with Vick Chemical Company. A trip west in early 1958, combining work assignments and skiing, ended in San Francisco, where, on a blind date, she met David Elliott. They were married in December 1958. Ellen worked with Field Research in San Francisco until her first baby arrived. Thereafter, she combined her leadership roles in community service with her role as a homemaker.
The mission of the new Peace Corps appealed to the Elliotts and, with two young children, they moved to West Africa in 1964. After staff work in Sierra Leone, they moved the following year to Nigeria, where David became country director. From 1966 to 1968, they served in India, directing Peace Corps' largest volunteer contingent. The Elliotts' third child was born in New Delhi. It was soon time to return home, but the Elliotts' devotion to the Peace Corps' work would be reawakened many years later.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Ellen was a leader in school integration. She was a founding member, treasurer and president of the Mid-Peninsula Task Force for Integrated Education, which led the legal battle to secure integrated educational opportunities for children in the Ravenswood City School District. This landmark case opened up educational opportunities for students between the Ravenswood district and the surrounding predominantly white school districts. Ellen was a plaintiff in the suit which was filed in 1976 and settled in 1986.
Also, in the early 1970s, Ellen began her life-long commitment to the League of Women Voters. She was a board director of the League in San Mateo County and later in San Francisco. In both areas she led voter education efforts, and, in San Francisco, she established the first televised forums for local political candidates.
She also chaired the League's statewide study on redistricting of the California Senate, Assembly, and Congressional districts in 1987-88. She was responsible for coordinating the work of 74 California League chapters in the study and took the lead as the League moved from study to advocating for redistricting reform. Chairing the League's campaign in support of a statewide ballot proposition, Ellen argued for the League's consensus views on television and radio. Ellen's work provided the basis for the League's current efforts to achieve reform of the redistricting process in California.
In 1989, Ellen was elected to the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame "for extraordinary achievements and contributions," notably in multicultural education, the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, and a message/request service for inmates at the San Mateo County jail, which was handling 28,000 requests annually.
In San Francisco in recent years, Ellen served as a program officer with the International Diplomacy Council, as a disaster relief worker for the American Red Cross, and as a volunteer administrative assistant for San Francisco Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
In 1980, Ellen took an uncharacteristic turn in activities by founding Chez Vous, a Bay Area dinner delivery service. It soon evolved into a full-line catering business, offering gourmet meals to many prominent Peninsula homes and institutions, including several Stanford University departments. She sold the business at a modest profit in 1985, thereafter kidding that she had made money while earning an MBA equivalent in four years.
When Ellen was 58, in 1991, she and David rejoined the Peace Corps, this time as volunteers, and moved to Poland to help in that country's transition back to democracy and private economic enterprise. Ellen's primary job was as a catalyst building a community program called "Dialog." The program's goal was to involve citizens in solving community problems, whether in the schools or on the streets. Initial primary issues were public safety, youth activities, and city clean-up.
One of Ellen's secondary Peace Corps projects was to encourage tourism as a source of income in the northeastern part of Poland where they lived. She helped in the editing and publication of a book about the history of the large pre-war Jewish community in the area, JEWISH BIALYSTOK, which was well reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES and is now in its second edition (The Ipswich Press).
After the Elliotts completed their Peace Corps assignment in 1993, Ellen made several trips to Poland and Romania in 1994-95, continuing to help with grassroots democracy projects. This work, like the "Dialog" program, was supported by the German Marshall Fund, a foundation based in the U.S. and endowed by Germany in gratitude for the post World War II Marshall Plan.
In the 1990s, Ellen also served as a volunteer and board director of the National Peace Corps Association, Washington DC, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Sabre Foundation, Cambridge, MA. In the Bay Area, she was a board member of the Service League of San Mateo County and the Ecumenical Hunger Program of East Palo Alto. She also continued to be active in the League of Women Voters, including participation in a project in Russia training women for leadership roles in their work and in their communities.
Ellen is survived by her husband of 48 years, David; their two sons, Andrew of Colorado Springs and Fred Elliott-Hart of Boston; daughter, Karen of Port Townsend, WA; two daughters-in-law, Sunjong and Teri; seven grandchildren, Cole, Dylan, Henry, Paul, Sarah, Johnny and Sadie; her sister, Margaret Nyhus of New York; her brother, Paul Nyhus of Kensington, MD; and countless loyal friends.
Her friends, along with her family, admired Ellen for her naturalness and complete absence of affectation. Ever tactful yet always straightforward, Ellen treated every person equally and always with respect and kindness. She was invariably gracious, even-tempered, and a patient and non judgmental listener. Confident, she never sought center stage and was just as happy working behind the scenes. All her life she acted out her beliefs that 1) one person can make a difference and 2) getting credit was not the goal.
Ellen's mother was a Canadian of Scottish descent and her paternal grandparents had come to Wisconsin from Norway. Perhaps this background partially accounted for Ellen's strong practical, no-nonsense nature. She believed in keeping things simple and avoided over-analysis and indecision. While discriminating and enjoying the good things of life, Ellen never equated value with cost or popular opinion. She knew the importance of proper appearance and etiquette, but she definitely had no interest in expensive clothes or jewelry. She loved a good story and a timely witticism was always welcome. One of her long-time friends loved the occasional twinkle in Ellen's eye and said "There's not enough twinkle in the world's conversation these days, and we'll all miss Ellen's."
Ellen often said that a mother's job is the most important in the world. Her children would attest that she did that job with great care, love, and affection, although Ellen fully knew that in raising children imperfections were inevitable and many decisions were close calls. Her own mother had died when Ellen was five and her father didn't remarry until after Ellen had her own children. He raised Ellen and her brother and sister with the help of a series of housekeepers in Argentina and England.
Besides her passion for democracy and her love working for social and economic justice, Ellen also enjoyed the theater, ballet, social tennis (in her middle years), friendly bridge games, a good book, morning walks with neighborhood pals, and travel. She spoke beautiful Spanish with an admired Argentine accent, although she protested that her Spanish vocabulary was only that of a 13-year-old. She learned French from a Swiss housekeeper and Polish in the Peace Corps. Most of all, she was comfortable in any country and any place. Never fearful, she was pragmatic and serene to the very end.
She was often credited with being blessed with grace. One of her best friends in Poland has said, "Each day with her was a lesson in how you have to live."
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 12 at the Memo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA.
Contributions in Ellen's memory may be sent to the League of Women Voters of California, Education Fund, 801 12th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or to the National Peace Corps Association, 1900 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on Mar. 18, 2007.
Ellen was born in Washington D.C. in 1933, the daughter of Paul O. Nyhus, a U.S. foreign service officer, and Jean Graham Nyhus. She grew up in Buenos Aires and then London, where she attended the Francis Holland School for Girls. She returned to the U.S. to attend the University of Wisconsin, earning a BA degree in business there in 1954.
Ellen entered the business world in Toronto, later moving to New York for management positions in market research with Vick Chemical Company. A trip west in early 1958, combining work assignments and skiing, ended in San Francisco, where, on a blind date, she met David Elliott. They were married in December 1958. Ellen worked with Field Research in San Francisco until her first baby arrived. Thereafter, she combined her leadership roles in community service with her role as a homemaker.
The mission of the new Peace Corps appealed to the Elliotts and, with two young children, they moved to West Africa in 1964. After staff work in Sierra Leone, they moved the following year to Nigeria, where David became country director. From 1966 to 1968, they served in India, directing Peace Corps' largest volunteer contingent. The Elliotts' third child was born in New Delhi. It was soon time to return home, but the Elliotts' devotion to the Peace Corps' work would be reawakened many years later.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Ellen was a leader in school integration. She was a founding member, treasurer and president of the Mid-Peninsula Task Force for Integrated Education, which led the legal battle to secure integrated educational opportunities for children in the Ravenswood City School District. This landmark case opened up educational opportunities for students between the Ravenswood district and the surrounding predominantly white school districts. Ellen was a plaintiff in the suit which was filed in 1976 and settled in 1986.
Also, in the early 1970s, Ellen began her life-long commitment to the League of Women Voters. She was a board director of the League in San Mateo County and later in San Francisco. In both areas she led voter education efforts, and, in San Francisco, she established the first televised forums for local political candidates.
She also chaired the League's statewide study on redistricting of the California Senate, Assembly, and Congressional districts in 1987-88. She was responsible for coordinating the work of 74 California League chapters in the study and took the lead as the League moved from study to advocating for redistricting reform. Chairing the League's campaign in support of a statewide ballot proposition, Ellen argued for the League's consensus views on television and radio. Ellen's work provided the basis for the League's current efforts to achieve reform of the redistricting process in California.
In 1989, Ellen was elected to the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame "for extraordinary achievements and contributions," notably in multicultural education, the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, and a message/request service for inmates at the San Mateo County jail, which was handling 28,000 requests annually.
In San Francisco in recent years, Ellen served as a program officer with the International Diplomacy Council, as a disaster relief worker for the American Red Cross, and as a volunteer administrative assistant for San Francisco Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
In 1980, Ellen took an uncharacteristic turn in activities by founding Chez Vous, a Bay Area dinner delivery service. It soon evolved into a full-line catering business, offering gourmet meals to many prominent Peninsula homes and institutions, including several Stanford University departments. She sold the business at a modest profit in 1985, thereafter kidding that she had made money while earning an MBA equivalent in four years.
When Ellen was 58, in 1991, she and David rejoined the Peace Corps, this time as volunteers, and moved to Poland to help in that country's transition back to democracy and private economic enterprise. Ellen's primary job was as a catalyst building a community program called "Dialog." The program's goal was to involve citizens in solving community problems, whether in the schools or on the streets. Initial primary issues were public safety, youth activities, and city clean-up.
One of Ellen's secondary Peace Corps projects was to encourage tourism as a source of income in the northeastern part of Poland where they lived. She helped in the editing and publication of a book about the history of the large pre-war Jewish community in the area, JEWISH BIALYSTOK, which was well reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES and is now in its second edition (The Ipswich Press).
After the Elliotts completed their Peace Corps assignment in 1993, Ellen made several trips to Poland and Romania in 1994-95, continuing to help with grassroots democracy projects. This work, like the "Dialog" program, was supported by the German Marshall Fund, a foundation based in the U.S. and endowed by Germany in gratitude for the post World War II Marshall Plan.
In the 1990s, Ellen also served as a volunteer and board director of the National Peace Corps Association, Washington DC, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Sabre Foundation, Cambridge, MA. In the Bay Area, she was a board member of the Service League of San Mateo County and the Ecumenical Hunger Program of East Palo Alto. She also continued to be active in the League of Women Voters, including participation in a project in Russia training women for leadership roles in their work and in their communities.
Ellen is survived by her husband of 48 years, David; their two sons, Andrew of Colorado Springs and Fred Elliott-Hart of Boston; daughter, Karen of Port Townsend, WA; two daughters-in-law, Sunjong and Teri; seven grandchildren, Cole, Dylan, Henry, Paul, Sarah, Johnny and Sadie; her sister, Margaret Nyhus of New York; her brother, Paul Nyhus of Kensington, MD; and countless loyal friends.
Her friends, along with her family, admired Ellen for her naturalness and complete absence of affectation. Ever tactful yet always straightforward, Ellen treated every person equally and always with respect and kindness. She was invariably gracious, even-tempered, and a patient and non judgmental listener. Confident, she never sought center stage and was just as happy working behind the scenes. All her life she acted out her beliefs that 1) one person can make a difference and 2) getting credit was not the goal.
Ellen's mother was a Canadian of Scottish descent and her paternal grandparents had come to Wisconsin from Norway. Perhaps this background partially accounted for Ellen's strong practical, no-nonsense nature. She believed in keeping things simple and avoided over-analysis and indecision. While discriminating and enjoying the good things of life, Ellen never equated value with cost or popular opinion. She knew the importance of proper appearance and etiquette, but she definitely had no interest in expensive clothes or jewelry. She loved a good story and a timely witticism was always welcome. One of her long-time friends loved the occasional twinkle in Ellen's eye and said "There's not enough twinkle in the world's conversation these days, and we'll all miss Ellen's."
Ellen often said that a mother's job is the most important in the world. Her children would attest that she did that job with great care, love, and affection, although Ellen fully knew that in raising children imperfections were inevitable and many decisions were close calls. Her own mother had died when Ellen was five and her father didn't remarry until after Ellen had her own children. He raised Ellen and her brother and sister with the help of a series of housekeepers in Argentina and England.
Besides her passion for democracy and her love working for social and economic justice, Ellen also enjoyed the theater, ballet, social tennis (in her middle years), friendly bridge games, a good book, morning walks with neighborhood pals, and travel. She spoke beautiful Spanish with an admired Argentine accent, although she protested that her Spanish vocabulary was only that of a 13-year-old. She learned French from a Swiss housekeeper and Polish in the Peace Corps. Most of all, she was comfortable in any country and any place. Never fearful, she was pragmatic and serene to the very end.
She was often credited with being blessed with grace. One of her best friends in Poland has said, "Each day with her was a lesson in how you have to live."
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 12 at the Memo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA.
Contributions in Ellen's memory may be sent to the League of Women Voters of California, Education Fund, 801 12th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or to the National Peace Corps Association, 1900 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on Mar. 18, 2007.
Ellen J. Elliott, a Bay Area activist who was a leader in the League of Women Voters and in the 10-year legal battle to desegregate mid-Peninsula schools, died on March 9, 2007 at her home in San Francisco. She was 73. Her death was due to complications from intestinal cancer, which she had braved for six years, undergoing five operations.
Ellen was born in Washington D.C. in 1933, the daughter of Paul O. Nyhus, a U.S. foreign service officer, and Jean Graham Nyhus. She grew up in Buenos Aires and then London, where she attended the Francis Holland School for Girls. She returned to the U.S. to attend the University of Wisconsin, earning a BA degree in business there in 1954.
Ellen entered the business world in Toronto, later moving to New York for management positions in market research with Vick Chemical Company. A trip west in early 1958, combining work assignments and skiing, ended in San Francisco, where, on a blind date, she met David Elliott. They were married in December 1958. Ellen worked with Field Research in San Francisco until her first baby arrived. Thereafter, she combined her leadership roles in community service with her role as a homemaker.
The mission of the new Peace Corps appealed to the Elliotts and, with two young children, they moved to West Africa in 1964. After staff work in Sierra Leone, they moved the following year to Nigeria, where David became country director. From 1966 to 1968, they served in India, directing Peace Corps' largest volunteer contingent. The Elliotts' third child was born in New Delhi. It was soon time to return home, but the Elliotts' devotion to the Peace Corps' work would be reawakened many years later.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Ellen was a leader in school integration. She was a founding member, treasurer and president of the Mid-Peninsula Task Force for Integrated Education, which led the legal battle to secure integrated educational opportunities for children in the Ravenswood City School District. This landmark case opened up educational opportunities for students between the Ravenswood district and the surrounding predominantly white school districts. Ellen was a plaintiff in the suit which was filed in 1976 and settled in 1986.
Also, in the early 1970s, Ellen began her life-long commitment to the League of Women Voters. She was a board director of the League in San Mateo County and later in San Francisco. In both areas she led voter education efforts, and, in San Francisco, she established the first televised forums for local political candidates.
She also chaired the League's statewide study on redistricting of the California Senate, Assembly, and Congressional districts in 1987-88. She was responsible for coordinating the work of 74 California League chapters in the study and took the lead as the League moved from study to advocating for redistricting reform. Chairing the League's campaign in support of a statewide ballot proposition, Ellen argued for the League's consensus views on television and radio. Ellen's work provided the basis for the League's current efforts to achieve reform of the redistricting process in California.
In 1989, Ellen was elected to the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame "for extraordinary achievements and contributions," notably in multicultural education, the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, and a message/request service for inmates at the San Mateo County jail, which was handling 28,000 requests annually.
In San Francisco in recent years, Ellen served as a program officer with the International Diplomacy Council, as a disaster relief worker for the American Red Cross, and as a volunteer administrative assistant for San Francisco Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
In 1980, Ellen took an uncharacteristic turn in activities by founding Chez Vous, a Bay Area dinner delivery service. It soon evolved into a full-line catering business, offering gourmet meals to many prominent Peninsula homes and institutions, including several Stanford University departments. She sold the business at a modest profit in 1985, thereafter kidding that she had made money while earning an MBA equivalent in four years.
When Ellen was 58, in 1991, she and David rejoined the Peace Corps, this time as volunteers, and moved to Poland to help in that country's transition back to democracy and private economic enterprise. Ellen's primary job was as a catalyst building a community program called "Dialog." The program's goal was to involve citizens in solving community problems, whether in the schools or on the streets. Initial primary issues were public safety, youth activities, and city clean-up.
One of Ellen's secondary Peace Corps projects was to encourage tourism as a source of income in the northeastern part of Poland where they lived. She helped in the editing and publication of a book about the history of the large pre-war Jewish community in the area, JEWISH BIALYSTOK, which was well reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES and is now in its second edition (The Ipswich Press).
After the Elliotts completed their Peace Corps assignment in 1993, Ellen made several trips to Poland and Romania in 1994-95, continuing to help with grassroots democracy projects. This work, like the "Dialog" program, was supported by the German Marshall Fund, a foundation based in the U.S. and endowed by Germany in gratitude for the post World War II Marshall Plan.
In the 1990s, Ellen also served as a volunteer and board director of the National Peace Corps Association, Washington DC, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Sabre Foundation, Cambridge, MA. In the Bay Area, she was a board member of the Service League of San Mateo County and the Ecumenical Hunger Program of East Palo Alto. She also continued to be active in the League of Women Voters, including participation in a project in Russia training women for leadership roles in their work and in their communities.
Ellen is survived by her husband of 48 years, David; their two sons, Andrew of Colorado Springs and Fred Elliott-Hart of Boston; daughter, Karen of Port Townsend, WA; two daughters-in-law, Sunjong and Teri; seven grandchildren, Cole, Dylan, Henry, Paul, Sarah, Johnny and Sadie; her sister, Margaret Nyhus of New York; her brother, Paul Nyhus of Kensington, MD; and countless loyal friends.
Her friends, along with her family, admired Ellen for her naturalness and complete absence of affectation. Ever tactful yet always straightforward, Ellen treated every person equally and always with respect and kindness. She was invariably gracious, even-tempered, and a patient and non judgmental listener. Confident, she never sought center stage and was just as happy working behind the scenes. All her life she acted out her beliefs that 1) one person can make a difference and 2) getting credit was not the goal.
Ellen's mother was a Canadian of Scottish descent and her paternal grandparents had come to Wisconsin from Norway. Perhaps this background partially accounted for Ellen's strong practical, no-nonsense nature. She believed in keeping things simple and avoided over-analysis and indecision. While discriminating and enjoying the good things of life, Ellen never equated value with cost or popular opinion. She knew the importance of proper appearance and etiquette, but she definitely had no interest in expensive clothes or jewelry. She loved a good story and a timely witticism was always welcome. One of her long-time friends loved the occasional twinkle in Ellen's eye and said "There's not enough twinkle in the world's conversation these days, and we'll all miss Ellen's."
Ellen often said that a mother's job is the most important in the world. Her children would attest that she did that job with great care, love, and affection, although Ellen fully knew that in raising children imperfections were inevitable and many decisions were close calls. Her own mother had died when Ellen was five and her father didn't remarry until after Ellen had her own children. He raised Ellen and her brother and sister with the help of a series of housekeepers in Argentina and England.
Besides her passion for democracy and her love working for social and economic justice, Ellen also enjoyed the theater, ballet, social tennis (in her middle years), friendly bridge games, a good book, morning walks with neighborhood pals, and travel. She spoke beautiful Spanish with an admired Argentine accent, although she protested that her Spanish vocabulary was only that of a 13-year-old. She learned French from a Swiss housekeeper and Polish in the Peace Corps. Most of all, she was comfortable in any country and any place. Never fearful, she was pragmatic and serene to the very end.
She was often credited with being blessed with grace. One of her best friends in Poland has said, "Each day with her was a lesson in how you have to live."
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 12 at the Memo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA.
Contributions in Ellen's memory may be sent to the League of Women Voters of California, Education Fund, 801 12th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or to the National Peace Corps Association, 1900 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on Mar. 18, 2007.
Ellen was born in Washington D.C. in 1933, the daughter of Paul O. Nyhus, a U.S. foreign service officer, and Jean Graham Nyhus. She grew up in Buenos Aires and then London, where she attended the Francis Holland School for Girls. She returned to the U.S. to attend the University of Wisconsin, earning a BA degree in business there in 1954.
Ellen entered the business world in Toronto, later moving to New York for management positions in market research with Vick Chemical Company. A trip west in early 1958, combining work assignments and skiing, ended in San Francisco, where, on a blind date, she met David Elliott. They were married in December 1958. Ellen worked with Field Research in San Francisco until her first baby arrived. Thereafter, she combined her leadership roles in community service with her role as a homemaker.
The mission of the new Peace Corps appealed to the Elliotts and, with two young children, they moved to West Africa in 1964. After staff work in Sierra Leone, they moved the following year to Nigeria, where David became country director. From 1966 to 1968, they served in India, directing Peace Corps' largest volunteer contingent. The Elliotts' third child was born in New Delhi. It was soon time to return home, but the Elliotts' devotion to the Peace Corps' work would be reawakened many years later.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Ellen was a leader in school integration. She was a founding member, treasurer and president of the Mid-Peninsula Task Force for Integrated Education, which led the legal battle to secure integrated educational opportunities for children in the Ravenswood City School District. This landmark case opened up educational opportunities for students between the Ravenswood district and the surrounding predominantly white school districts. Ellen was a plaintiff in the suit which was filed in 1976 and settled in 1986.
Also, in the early 1970s, Ellen began her life-long commitment to the League of Women Voters. She was a board director of the League in San Mateo County and later in San Francisco. In both areas she led voter education efforts, and, in San Francisco, she established the first televised forums for local political candidates.
She also chaired the League's statewide study on redistricting of the California Senate, Assembly, and Congressional districts in 1987-88. She was responsible for coordinating the work of 74 California League chapters in the study and took the lead as the League moved from study to advocating for redistricting reform. Chairing the League's campaign in support of a statewide ballot proposition, Ellen argued for the League's consensus views on television and radio. Ellen's work provided the basis for the League's current efforts to achieve reform of the redistricting process in California.
In 1989, Ellen was elected to the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame "for extraordinary achievements and contributions," notably in multicultural education, the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, and a message/request service for inmates at the San Mateo County jail, which was handling 28,000 requests annually.
In San Francisco in recent years, Ellen served as a program officer with the International Diplomacy Council, as a disaster relief worker for the American Red Cross, and as a volunteer administrative assistant for San Francisco Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
In 1980, Ellen took an uncharacteristic turn in activities by founding Chez Vous, a Bay Area dinner delivery service. It soon evolved into a full-line catering business, offering gourmet meals to many prominent Peninsula homes and institutions, including several Stanford University departments. She sold the business at a modest profit in 1985, thereafter kidding that she had made money while earning an MBA equivalent in four years.
When Ellen was 58, in 1991, she and David rejoined the Peace Corps, this time as volunteers, and moved to Poland to help in that country's transition back to democracy and private economic enterprise. Ellen's primary job was as a catalyst building a community program called "Dialog." The program's goal was to involve citizens in solving community problems, whether in the schools or on the streets. Initial primary issues were public safety, youth activities, and city clean-up.
One of Ellen's secondary Peace Corps projects was to encourage tourism as a source of income in the northeastern part of Poland where they lived. She helped in the editing and publication of a book about the history of the large pre-war Jewish community in the area, JEWISH BIALYSTOK, which was well reviewed in the NEW YORK TIMES and is now in its second edition (The Ipswich Press).
After the Elliotts completed their Peace Corps assignment in 1993, Ellen made several trips to Poland and Romania in 1994-95, continuing to help with grassroots democracy projects. This work, like the "Dialog" program, was supported by the German Marshall Fund, a foundation based in the U.S. and endowed by Germany in gratitude for the post World War II Marshall Plan.
In the 1990s, Ellen also served as a volunteer and board director of the National Peace Corps Association, Washington DC, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Sabre Foundation, Cambridge, MA. In the Bay Area, she was a board member of the Service League of San Mateo County and the Ecumenical Hunger Program of East Palo Alto. She also continued to be active in the League of Women Voters, including participation in a project in Russia training women for leadership roles in their work and in their communities.
Ellen is survived by her husband of 48 years, David; their two sons, Andrew of Colorado Springs and Fred Elliott-Hart of Boston; daughter, Karen of Port Townsend, WA; two daughters-in-law, Sunjong and Teri; seven grandchildren, Cole, Dylan, Henry, Paul, Sarah, Johnny and Sadie; her sister, Margaret Nyhus of New York; her brother, Paul Nyhus of Kensington, MD; and countless loyal friends.
Her friends, along with her family, admired Ellen for her naturalness and complete absence of affectation. Ever tactful yet always straightforward, Ellen treated every person equally and always with respect and kindness. She was invariably gracious, even-tempered, and a patient and non judgmental listener. Confident, she never sought center stage and was just as happy working behind the scenes. All her life she acted out her beliefs that 1) one person can make a difference and 2) getting credit was not the goal.
Ellen's mother was a Canadian of Scottish descent and her paternal grandparents had come to Wisconsin from Norway. Perhaps this background partially accounted for Ellen's strong practical, no-nonsense nature. She believed in keeping things simple and avoided over-analysis and indecision. While discriminating and enjoying the good things of life, Ellen never equated value with cost or popular opinion. She knew the importance of proper appearance and etiquette, but she definitely had no interest in expensive clothes or jewelry. She loved a good story and a timely witticism was always welcome. One of her long-time friends loved the occasional twinkle in Ellen's eye and said "There's not enough twinkle in the world's conversation these days, and we'll all miss Ellen's."
Ellen often said that a mother's job is the most important in the world. Her children would attest that she did that job with great care, love, and affection, although Ellen fully knew that in raising children imperfections were inevitable and many decisions were close calls. Her own mother had died when Ellen was five and her father didn't remarry until after Ellen had her own children. He raised Ellen and her brother and sister with the help of a series of housekeepers in Argentina and England.
Besides her passion for democracy and her love working for social and economic justice, Ellen also enjoyed the theater, ballet, social tennis (in her middle years), friendly bridge games, a good book, morning walks with neighborhood pals, and travel. She spoke beautiful Spanish with an admired Argentine accent, although she protested that her Spanish vocabulary was only that of a 13-year-old. She learned French from a Swiss housekeeper and Polish in the Peace Corps. Most of all, she was comfortable in any country and any place. Never fearful, she was pragmatic and serene to the very end.
She was often credited with being blessed with grace. One of her best friends in Poland has said, "Each day with her was a lesson in how you have to live."
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 12 at the Memo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA.
Contributions in Ellen's memory may be sent to the League of Women Voters of California, Education Fund, 801 12th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or to the National Peace Corps Association, 1900 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on Mar. 18, 2007.
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