David Warren Ellis

Born June 20, 1938, he grew up on western Kansas farms during the Depression era and often told stories of a poor but happy childhood. His baseball equipment was a stick and clump of mud, chickens and pigs particularly entertained him, and tumbleweeds were a common sighting.

During his military service, he was stationed in Germany to help repair roads, although our impression is he spent just as much time playing pranks on his buddies. He was honorably discharged in 1965. He then earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Education and spent over 30 years teaching very amused children in grades 3 and 5 at Dorothy Moody Elementary. He was a favorite teacher to hundreds, perhaps thousands, always the most memorable as the only male teacher, his 6'2” height towering over the little kids, perhaps at first intimidating them.

When David retired, he continued to work with students as the “Kansas City Kiteguy”, providing kite building workshops for schools to teach the students the basic physics of how kites fly, as well as how to make an indoor kite which many likely still have in their homes today.

He always had a lot of interesting and funny stories about his life to entertain us all. His greatest pleasures, after his family, were flying kites/planes, caring for animals, and making children smile. When out flying, he would always have some spare kites with him to give to the curious children that crossed his path. Peek-a-boo was a common game for him, broken out in restaurants and stores when he found a willing participant.

KC Kiteguy finally went into retirement as David turned his interests back to his long-time passion for RC Planes, which he continued to fly with the local RC Club several times a week right up to his recent hospitalization.

David is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Christina (Robertson) Ellis of Overland Park, KS; his four children, C. David (Shannon) of Edwardsville, KS, Timothy (Analou) of Costa Rica, Michael Darrin (Tina) of Nutley, NJ, and Catherine (David) of Paris, France; eight grandchildren, Kendall (Ken), Jonathan (Lilly), Melody, Verchantelle, Darrin, Tyler, Raphaël, and Léa; and his siblings, Mick (Sherry), Leonard “Gus” (Joann), and Myrna (Jim) Jones.

In his own words: “It’s been a good run.”

A veterans memorial service will take place at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery on Friday, December 19th at 9am. A Celebration of Life is planned for summer 2026. Sympathies for the family can be sent to the McGilley & Hoge Johnson County Memorial Chapel.