Marjorie Jean Ellis

SIOUX CITY -- Marjorie Jean (Heath) Ellis, 91, of Washington, Iowa, formerly of Sioux City, died Monday, December 19, 2011, at Halcyon House after failing in health for the past nine months. Services will be 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, December 28, at Morningside Presbyterian Church in Sioux City, with the Rev. David Koehler officiating. Interment will be in Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will be one hour prior to service Wednesday at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel. Online condolences may be sent to www.meyerbroschapels.com. Marjorie was born June 13, 1920, in Sioux City, the daughter of Elmer R. and Jettie (Onstot) Heath. She graduated from Bronson (Iowa) High School in 1937 and attended National Business Training in Sioux City. On June 16, 1940, Marge was united in marriage to Glenn A. Ellis in Sioux City. They lived most of their married lives in Sioux City before moving to Washington in 2007. Marge worked as a secretary for an insurance company in Saint Paul, Minn., during World War II. She later worked as a church secretary at Morningside Presbyterian Church, secretary for the clerk of Northwest Iowa Presbytery, and later as a school secretary for the Sioux City School District until her retirement in 1980. She was a member of Morningside Presbyterian Church in Sioux City and attended United Presbyterian Church in Washington for the past four years. She enjoyed traveling with her husband to all 50 states and abroad. They wintered in Texas for 25 years, where she volunteered in the schools. She enjoyed sewing, knitting, dancing, genealogy, and special lifelong relationships with her sewing club friends. Marjorie is survived by her husband, Glenn Ellis of Washington; daughter, Virginia Bordwell and husband, Richard of Washington; American Field Service daughter, Inger Marie Bergene of Koppang, Norway; two granddaughters, Marilyn DeLaure and husband, Max of Fairfax, Calif., and Stephanie Quackenbush and husband, Peter of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Nancy in 1996; stepmother, Marguerite Heath; and sister, Margaret Ann Michas. Memorials have been established for Lending Hands.