Sanford “Sandy” Ellis

Tribute to Sandy Ellis

 

I don't like obituaries because they seem so impersonal so this will be a little bit different as I've written it as a tribute to his life from my perspective as his sister, daughter and friend.

Each of those who Sandy left on earth on July 5, 2015, continue to feel tremendous, sometimes overwhelming, sadness. But family members including our mom and dad, Evelyn and Helmer Ellis, his sister, Shila Oberembt, and his wife, Barb, welcomed him home with joy on that day. 

Sandy was born on February 7, 1933, and from the start everyone should have known what to expect because he was the perfect Aquarius. 

"Aquarius personality is very independent, any attempt to hold them down or restrict them will cause them to flee. The need to be free is not just desired, it is essential to their well-being. Beneath the detached, unemotional exterior lies a kind hearted friend that will go out of them way to help another but they do not expect anything in return. They are very unconventional. They tend to be rebels just for the sake of having their own way. They are stubborn and will continue to do something their way even though others have proved it is wrong. Despite their stubbornness and fixed opinion, they will never impose their ideas on others as they respect everybody's differences. Aquarius is the sign of visionaries, unconventionality and intellectual independence. They deviate from the crowd and go their own way." 

A perfect description of Sandy. (I often wondered why he and my mom were so identical and different from the other siblings and it wasn't until I read this I understood because she was an Aquarius too.

He graduated from Midland High School in Midland, S.D., in 1951 and played football and basketball throughout, although only 5'6" and 145 pounds. He attended Black Hills Teachers College in Spearfish for a year where amazingly (knowing Sandy) he was a member of Sigma Delta Fraternity. 

He joined the U.S. Air Force in August 1952 and very shortly after entering as an enlisted person, tested and was accepted into the Air Force cadet program. In 1953, he became a commissioned officer as a second lieutenant and in 1954 was promoted to first lieutenant, an unusual military path for someone without a degree. He received his honorable discharge from active military in 1956 and his honorable discharge from standby reserve in 1977. For someone who lived to be free, it is again the enigma that was Sandy, that he committed to our country's service for 25 years.

Mining provided a long-time career that fit his personality perfectly. He could go where he wanted and when he got tired of the area, moved on to the next. He was a miner and core driller for the majority of his life.

He married Barbara Cochran in Midland in 1980 and moved to Tucson, Ariz., where they lived until 1998 when he moved to Mesa, Ariz., to help us when Bill was diagnosed with cancer. It was the best move ever as Bill, thankfully, became cancer-free and we were able to live a few miles from Sandy for the remainder of his life. Barb passed away in 2005 and Sandy continued to live a very full life coming to our family dinners every Sunday, reading four to five books a week, watching Fox News and arguing politics with Bill and I. He had the time of his life on our European tour in 2006 with Bill and I and Bill’s sister and husband, Gail and Elmer Garcia. Four years later he enjoyed every minute of our Alaskan cruise with many members of our family and friends. He and Bill were two of the most skilled project managers I've ever seen. Nothing was too daunting for them to take on, whether installing wood floors in our Payson house (which they learned from a book and a video), building cabinets, overhauling his old pickup and building a deck that the inspector said had the best construction he'd ever seen! The best part of those projects is that we saw him in every part of our home every day.

He was a great teacher who never made his students feel like he was teaching. When we were in college, a group of us were trying to figure out the parts of an atom and Sandy put together an atom's structure from tinker toys. I think we all passed the test! As a child, I was really afraid of storms and he took me out in the midst of several of them and explained the science of how storms are created. I have never been frightened of storms since.

He was one of the kindest persons I've ever known. He wanted his little great-great nephew, Monroe Johnson, to have a real cowboy hat and even though he was quite ill, he shopped until he found one and gave it to Monroe last Christmas. I don't think any of us who think we knew him will ever actually realize the kindness he showed abundantly to others throughout his life.

He was quite a bit older than me and as our dad died when I was 18 months old, Sandy was much more of a dad to me than a brother, especially since all of the older brothers and sisters had left home and it was just our mom, Sandy and me. I never was disciplined by Mom growing up and if I got into trouble he was the one I would have to answer to. He called me “Baby” from the time I can remember until he passed away and it breaks my heart I will never hear that again.

He was Bill’s soulmate, a wonderful brother, uncle, great uncle, great-great uncle and friend. 

Those still on earth loving him and missing him beyond words are his brother, Alfred Ellis; sisters, Aldene Towne and Sandra Johnson; his brother-in-law, Bill Johnson; nephews, Jim Oberembt (Colleen), Mike Towne, Kelly Gerdon, Matthew Johnson, and Eli Johnson; nieces Marcia Massa (Larry), Anita Techrow (Terry), Kaye Martin (Dave), Nancy Towne, Judy Randall (Jim), Dina Cutler (Barry), Abby Johnson and Whitney Johnson. He also had many great and great-great nieces and nephews whom I hope are old enough to have learned from him or will learn about him when they get older through their parents’ and grandparents’ “Uncle Sandy" stories. 

Sandy's life was celebrated on July 11 at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Mesa with a simple service of shared memories, a Lutheran minister and military honors. Anything more, in his words, would be “pushing it.”