Ellen Rhee Kahn

Ellen Rhee Kahn passed away on April 18, 2022 at the age of 91. She was born in Birmingham, AL in 1931 and lived with her parents Jake and Frances Levy on Highland Ave until she graduated from Ramsey High School. She briefly attended the University of Miami where she spent time singing with a Big Band Orchestra in the city. She returned to Birmingham and married her childhood sweetheart in 1954. They moved to Ann Arbor, MI where she had her four children: Elizabeth, Gayle, Donald, and Tamara. She was an expert seamstress and made most of her own and children’s clothes from scratch. While living in Michigan, she was encouraged by a friend to take an art class. It was soon apparent that she was a very talented artist. She was a very prolific painter, painting mostly portraits and landscapes. She even sold some paintings at various art shows in the area.

In 1970 the family moved to Madison, WI. There she discovered other hidden talents including photography, furniture making and playing the piano. She took and developed her own photographs and made the furniture used daily in the home. She loved to play the piano and was very good.

In 1980 she returned to Birmingham. After divorce in the mid-1980s, she returned to school at UAB and received a BA degree in Fine Arts winning awards for some of her photographs. In the 90s she took up quilting, making very beautiful and intricate quilts.

She was a very strong-willed woman and a force to be reckoned with if the situation required it. She lived a full and wonderful life and was a great mother to her four children. She is survived by her four children Elizabeth David, Gayle Belcher, Donald Kahn, Jr., and Tamara Rice (John), and grandchildren Gabrielle Heckman (Landon), Taryn Legvold, Marissa Belcher, Katie Rice, and Spencer Rice, as well as 5 great grandchildren with one more on the way (Kinsley, Whitt, Parker, Jett, and Noah). We will all miss her dearly. Rest in peace, Mom.