Richard Sewell Ellerby

Dr. Richard S. Ellerby, aged 91, passed surrounded by his family in Fort Collins, Colorado on January 13, 2025. After a long and splendid life, "Dick" (as he was known to all), has finally been reunited in heaven with his wife of 57 years, Louise Ellerby. His legacy as a passionate educator and elementary principal in Fort Collins will live on through the students and teachers that he guided for so many years.

Born in Whittier California in 1933 to Alfred and Lucille Ellerby, Dick spent his early years in Wyoming where his father worked in the oil business and owned a small oil refinery. Dick excelled in school until high school algebra, where his struggles in math would lead to his life- long passion of developing new methods for learning math for young children. High school was not all bad, as that is where he met his future wife, Louise. They were in a senior English class where they fell in love while learning Shakespeare's plays. They married in 1954 and started their family, Deborah, Richard (Ricky) and Kevin. Dick attended the university of Wyoming. Dick expected to major in engineering so he could become a petroleum engineer, but once again, those advanced math courses deterred him and he ended up majoring in geology.

After college, Dick traveled extensively prospecting for uranium and drilling oil wells, (though he declined the invitation to work with Muamar Ghaddafi in Libya). Dick eventually quit traveling and became a surveyor for an engineering firm in Lander, Wyoming. As Dick remembers, "we were broke, but we were happy." He eventually went on to complete a Master's Degree in Geology as well.

Dick's life in education did not begin until 1965 when his best friend hired him as a 6th grade teacher at Washington Elementary in Laramie, Wyoming without any previous teaching experience. As is probably no surprise to those who long worked with Dick, he did not use the recommended readers and instead relied on Reader's Digest short stories to foster small-group discussions and debate. This was counter to what every other teacher was doing, which at the time relied more on reading aloud, reciting texts and copying sections into one's notebook, ruffling the feathers of many veteran teachers at the time. He became the lead teacher and began supervising recess, lunchtime, and athletics for extra income. Dick would go on to supervise the lunchroom and recess and coach sports for the rest of his career. Many former students fondly remember how "Mr. Ellerby" was all-time quarterback for daily games of touch football during lunchtime recess with his ratty duck-taped leather football (which was awarded to him in a glass case when he left Bennett Elementary in 1985).

Dick quickly advanced to principal of Washington Elementary and then onto other schools. In 1973 Dick and his family moved to Fort Collins, Colorado where he was hired as principal at Bennett Elementary. In 1974 he completed his Ed.D. in educational administration from University of Wyoming. This is where Dick began developing his math games for kids, meeting students where they were at, intellectually, and making math fun through using playing cards and poker chips.

In 1985 Dick became principal at the brand new Lopez Elementary where he continued developing his maverick administration style. Under his guidance, Lopez was the first elementary in Fort Collins to offer all-day kindergarten and where Dick spent many hours directly working with students (and his own grandkids) on math, rather than just fulfilling his role as an administrator. He also published his first book on math games, Math for Young Learners in 1996, and spent countless hours researching the impacts of math education in his school. Dick finally retired from Poudre School District in 2002 after 39 years as a principal, only to start the next chapter in his long career as a teacher supervisor.

Dick spent many later years supervising school teachers and student teachers through Colorado State, the University of Northern Colorado, and Regis Universities. He found this both challenging, due to constraints on teachers and their training, but also rewarding. He helped Catholic school teachers complete their alternative licenses through Regis University for the last 8 years of his career. During all of this time, he developed his own pedagogies and philosophies on teaching, especially math, for young kids. He truly believed that all children could become lifelong math learners with the right strategies and tools. Dick wrote his second book, Math: Moxie vs Mediocrity, in 2015. It was his way to synthesize all his years of experience and knowledge, and to deal with the painful loss of Louise, who passed away in 2012.

Dick is preceded in death by his parents, Alfred and Lucille Ellerby; his wife Louise Ellerby; and his brother, Gil Ellerby. He is survived by his three children: Deborah (Rod) Campos; Richard (Karen) Ellerby; and Kevin Ellerby. He is also survived by his seven grandchildren: Tyson (Jill) Barela; Cody (Sarah) Barela; Kara (Koji) Ellerby-Hamada; Ryan Ellerby; Kyle (Shelly) Ellerby; Kameron Ellerby; and Charli Ellerby. He is also survived by his seven great-grandchildren: Jacob, Paige, Gavin, Eloise, Theo, Kai, and Kazu.

A a celebration of life for Richard will be held Monday, January 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM at Allnutt Funeral Service – Drake Road Chapel, 650 W. Drake Rd., Ft. Collins, Colorado 80526.