Ellen Mary Gallina

Ellen loved the ocean and grew up on the Jersey Shore with cousins and friends in a beautifully blended Irish-Italian family. She married Charles Gallina (who had to stand on a stair in pictures to match her height), and they settled down in Royersford, PA. They built a home and family there before moving to Voorhees, NJ, and eventually settling in Springfield, IL.

Ellen was a mom. And a great one. It is a role that she was born to play. She raised three children: Mary Kate, Matthew, and Maria, (her Catholic faith being so strong that she named both daughters after Mary). Anyone within ear shot of her would have to endure her talking at length of how proud she was of them…particularly of their singing…which she would never admit was a love and gift they inherited from her. Ellen sang and performed throughout her life - in early musicals as a high school student, throughout her college years at Gwynedd Mercy in Pennsylvania and in later years as a proud member of the Christ the King choir, where she met many dear and lifelong friends. Her life was also full of the love she shared with many favorite pets.

She was a nana. Like her mother before her, she cared deeply for the grandkids that adored her and are left with lifelong memories of their sweet “Nana Girl”, and also lots of strange and unusual gifts that only nana could find. She will be missed greatly and live on through her grand babies Luciano, Adrianna, Stella, Jesse, Jude, and Ellianna.

She is preceded in death by her parents; as well as her husband, Charles; and older brothers, Tony, Vince, and Matthew. She is survived by her twin brother, Jim (wife April); sister-in-law, Stella (husband Bo). She is also survived by Jake, Gaby, and Joe, the children she thought of as her own; and a loving throng of nieces, nephews, and God children.

Ellen was soft and quiet. But she had a fierceness in her that carried her through her final days with strength, and a deep love of Christ and the Catholic Church that will remain inspiring to all who knew her. She was surrounded by loving family, and an extended family of hospice nurses and care that brought her incredible joy and peace as she passed through.

A lifelong lover of the arts, and all it did for her children and grandchildren, donations can be made in her name to the Hoogland Center for the Arts, where she could often be seen beaming from a seat, and where she will now watch over her favorites from a much better seat.

Visitation & Mass of Christian Burial: The family will receive friends from 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at Butler Funeral Home-Springfield, 900 S. 6th St., Springfield, IL 62703.

The Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at Christ the King Parish, 1930 Barberry Dr., Springfield, IL 62704 with Fr. Mark Tracy officiating. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery, Springfield, IL.

Please visit www.butlerspringfield.com to offer condolences.