Genevieve Ellis

Genny was born December 30th 1954 in Chowchilla, CA to Calvin Henry Ellis and Martha Lucille Burns Ellis and has one older brother, William Ellis.

Genny excelled in academia and was the first student at her school for gifted students to skip two grades. She was an artist and musician. She loved to paint, draw, journal and write poetry and prose. She composed music, played piano, and was the first chair clarinet player in band and orchestra throughout high school and college. She enjoyed live music and seeing her favorite comedians and writers perform. She was a voracious reader, one of her favorite writers being David Foster Wallace. She was a member of the Olympia Peace Choir and enjoyed the comradery she shared with her fellow members.

Genny lived in Bakersfield CA, Portland OR, and Olympia WA. She is survived by her daughters, Melinda Cameron Swartzentruber and Shelley Anne Brucker, her sons-in-law Robert Nathaniel Swartzentruber and Benjamin Aaron Brucker, her grandchildren Zachary David Swartzentruber, Maya "Tootie" Yvonne Swartzentruber, and Margot Olivia Brucker, her sweet puppy Josie, and many treasured friends. She is proceded in death by her mother, father and her beloved Aunt Genevieve, her namesake, whom she lovingly called Auntie Gen.

We will miss her love, energy, kindness, sacrifice, intelligence, fantastic sense of humor, and her ability to be strong in the face of adversity.