Nancy Jo Ellison, 79, Atchison, Kansas died Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at Atchison Senior Village Nursing Center.
Mass of Christian burial will be Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 10:30 A.M. at Sacred Heart Church with Abbot Barnabas Senecal, OSB as celebrant. Interment will follow in Mt. Calvary Cemetery. A parish rosary will be recited by the St. Maximilian Kolbe Fraternity of Secular Franciscans on Friday, Dec. 6th at 6:30 P.M. in the chapel of Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home with visitation with the family to follow until 8:00 P.M. Memorial contributions are suggested to St. Benedict Parish, Fraternity of Secular Franciscans or the Atchison Library and may be left in care of the funeral home.
Nancy was born July 18, 1934 in Kansas City, Missouri the daughter of Edmund and Alyce Wyatt Bilimek. She attended St. Benedict's Elementary School graduating from Mt. Saint Scholastica Academy. She then attended Mt. Saint Scholastica College.
She and Keith Ellison were united in marriage on December 21, 1955 in Atchison, Kansas.
Nancy served as a telephone operator for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in Atchison and later served as an optometrist assistant for over twenty years in the office of Dr. Harold Frieden.
She was a member of St. Benedict Parish, formerly a member of Sacred Heart Church Parish Council, and for many years served as a Eucharistic minister and adorer for Eucharistic adoration within the church. She was a member of St. Maximilian Kolbe Fraternity of Secular Franciscans; Chapter FT P. E. O.; Atchison Art Association; a docent of the Amerlia Earhart Birthplace Home; Atchison Historical Society and Friends of the Atchison Library.
Survivors include her husband of fifty-eight years, Keith Ellison, of the couple's home in Atchison, two daughter's, Julie (Jim) Wohlgemuth, Gretna, NE, Angela (David) Loch, Lawrence, KS, a son, Greg (Tracey) Ellison, San Antonio, TX, a brother, George (Claudia) Bilimek, Atchison, KS and eight grandchildren, Blake (Jennifer), Nick (Alexandra), Max, Alyce (Adam), John, Beth, Wyatt and Marshall.