Steve Frank Ellis

And now there is one. My brother and I grew up in Taos, New Mexico during a special time in the 1950’s. Our Hacienda had a creek, horse coral a big yard with huge cottonwoods and a large willow tree. We built many tree houses and dug outs. We had a basement where Dad taught us carpentry skills, how to develop film and make pictures and ammunition reloading. Dad was a Silver Beaver and we were regularly active in Scouts. We fished and camped on the Rio Grande, Rio Hondo, Rio Pueblo de Taos and Red River. We hunted in the surrounding mountains, hiked and rode horses over Wheelers Peak and camped around the Blue Lake below. The monthly Rodeos and annual Taos Fiesta held special memories. Steve would often tell friends, that when we played cowboys and Indians, we played with real Indians. In the early 60’s, Mom and Dad moved us to Albuquerque and then on to Lubbock wanting us to finish our education in a college town. Steve being the more talented one as played the coronet in the band at Coronado and sang in choir. In 1968 he joined the Navy and served for 8 years as a sonar man on the AWACS that dropped sonar buoys into the Atlantic to track Russian submarines. His duty stations included Rhoda Spain, Brunswick, Main and Jacksonville, Florida. His favorite beer was Coors Banquet and once he had our parents buy as much as they could and take to Reese Airforce base where he had arranged for transport back to Maine. On another occasion he and his favorite Navy partner in crime, Mike Fox, commandeered a refrigerator in Maine and transported to Bermuda so they could have cold beer while they were stationed there. After his service and a detour to help Mike Fox build an A frame cabin in Alaska, he enrolled at Texas Tech University with a major in Engineering. There he met another lifetime friend Bill Baldwin. Bill and Steve enjoyed hiking the Guadalupe mountains and built a glider together. At Tech, Steve was diagnosed with rare disease of the retina which left him legally blind but with some peripheral vision. Changing his major he completed his degree with the help of a reader and special equipment. This led him to a career in service to the blind. First with the Lighthouse for the Blind and then with Texas Commission for the Blind. It was there, he met the love of his life, Olga Valdez and they married on December 26th, 1999. Steve and Olga loved to travel and made many trips including visits to Jerusalem, China, a cruise through the Panama Canal and their last trip together, a train trip across the northwest United States. Steve was well known for his humor. Known as Uncle No No to his Niece and Nephew for asking them to throw eggs up to the Jennie in the ceiling who would catch them and other mischievous things. He bought a heavily hail damaged BMW which he lovingly called his Braille Car which he said, made it easy to locate in parking lots. He sang many parodies of popular songs mimicking the artists perfectly and making up new, sometimes naughty lyrics. Our favorite was the Willy Nelson and Julio Iglesias song “To all the Girls I Have Known Before”. Just before going into hospice, the Elders of the church had come by to anoint him with oil. For some reason one did not have the olive oil. Steve said to them, “We only have Wesson oil, will that work?” Even in great pain from the cancer that was ravaging his body he continued with his humorous spirit. Steve will be greatly missed by his Wife Olga her mother Bencha, her sister Moni and niece Edna, brother Allen Ellis and wife Marica and their son Jayton Ellis, his son Jax Ellis and his many other special friends. In Lieu of flowers the family requests that any donations be made to Beth El Bible Church, 6440 Montana, El Paso, Tx 79925.