Ellis Album, Photo 53 – Colleen Ellsworth

thegenealogygirl

6 years ago

Colleen is my 1st cousin twice removed. Her mother is Gene Ann Huband. Gene is the sister of the album’s creator, Blanche – my great-grandmother. This same photo can be seen on FamilySearch. There is a note attached to that copy stating that this is Colleen’s mission picture.

Surprisingly, I believe this is the first photo from this album that was already on FamilySearch. There may have been one other, but if I remember correctly, my copy was so remarkably better that I went ahead and uploaded it.

Colleen was certainly beautiful. As I look at the photo, the word that keeps coming to mind is glamorous. Not usually the word we associate with missionaries. 😉

Update:

A week or so after writing this post, I came across the missionary farewell program for Colleen in my Grandmother’s collection. Inside of the program was a lovely photo of the grandchildren of Heber & Hattie Huband:

The back of this photo reads: “Heber Huband Grandchildren Dec. 1959”. The woman standing at the far left is Beth Louise Ellis, my grandaunt, the woman standing third from left is my Grandmother, Mary Margaret Ellis, the man to her right is her brother Dale Huband Ellis, and the woman sitting closest to the piano is their youngest sister, Claudia. Based on the date of the photo and the date of the farewell, I would imagine that this photo was taken upon Colleen’s return.

I had to smile when I saw that my Grandmother and her youngest sister Claudia provided the prelude and postlude music for Colleen’s farewell. Claudia is a fantastic organist. She is known for being able to play the organ while carrying on a conversation with someone without looking at the music or the organ. The first time I saw her do that I was so shocked! But now, 20+ years later, I regularly do the exact same thing and even sing the alto part while I play the hymns on the organ. I often think of Aunt Claudia as I play. <3