Ellis Atchison

Ellis Charles Atchison, 100 years of age, passed away on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016 in Sikeston, Missouri. Visitation will be on Saturday, June 4th beginning at 11:00 a.m. at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel, 205 North Stoddard, Sikeston, Missouri with funeral services to follow at 1:00 pm. Interment will be at Forest Hills Memorial Gardens in Morley, Missouri.

Ellis Atchison was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Ellis Lemuel Atchison and Ina Frances Evans Atchison on November 17, 1915. Known by friends and family alike as “The Colonel”, he was preceded in death by his wife Mildred (Mickey) Garrison Atchison and his sisters Maxine Myers of Warrensburg, Missouri and Margrathe Ford of Sunrise Beach, Missouri. He is survived by his second wife Jean Atchison of Cincinnati, Ohio, his children Shelley Fay of Houston, Texas, and Jane A. Kirk and Charles Atchison, of Sikeston, Missouri, his step-children Sharon Johnson of Cincinnati, Ohio, David Peters of Phoenix, Arizona, and Greg Peters of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren, 3 step-grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and 4 step-great-grandchildren.

The Colonel began his career as a Western Union telegraph messenger, then a cattle speculator and horse trader with a membership on the Kansas City Traders Exchange. His Army career spanned 20 years, and, after retiring from the Army, he became a successful businessman co-founding the Homestead Distributing Company of Sikeston, Missouri.

Atchison enlisted in the United States Army on October 2, 1940 as a radio/telegraph operator, then graduated from the Officer Candidate School as a second lieutenant in September 1942 assigned to the 138th Signal Radio Intelligence Company, the beginning of his career in military intelligence. He served in Australia, New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), the Philippine Islands, Japan, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, Arlington Hall, Virginia, and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. He was co-founder of the Army Security Agency (later the National Security Agency) and the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, and launched the University of Maryland Military College Credits program which has granted multiple thousands of college degrees to Armed Forces personnel worldwide.

The Commanding General of the Military Intelligence Command Training School stated in 2006 to Colonel Atchison at an awards ceremony,

“We in the Military Intelligence Command and other intelligence gathering agencies stand on your shoulders and the shoulders of the men and women you commanded. You were the pioneers, and it was you who have shown us the way.”

Pallbearers are Allison Kirk Griffiths, Natalie Kirk, Molly Kirk Gray, E.C. Atchison, Clark Atchison, Hobie Higgins, David Peters, and Greg Peters.