Margaret Ellis

Margaret Ellis, 96, passed away peacefully on November 23rd, 2020 at her home in Madison, Wisconsin. Margaret was born on July 30th,1924 at her family home in Durant, Mississippi. She was the sixth of nine children born to parents to parents Willie C. Sample and Charlie Sample Sr.  Margaret is survived by her granddaughters, Korri Elllis and Adrienne Ellis, grandson-in-law Thad Johnson, great grandson Ellis Johnson, former daughter-in-law Patricia Maddox, and a multitude of extended family members that she helped raise.

Margaret married Doc Ellis on March 16, 1946 in Mississippi shortly after he returned from serving overseas in the army during World War II. She gave birth to their son, Charles Louis Ellis on January 16th, 1947 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Shortly after Charles’ birth, like many of her siblings and other black southerners in search of steady work and a less oppressive environment, Margaret and Doc moved their family north to Rockford, Illinois. They purchased a home of their own where they raised Charles, who was both a scholar and an athlete in addition to being the first in the immediate family to attend college. They enjoyed a close knit community in Rockford, the neighborhood was one in which  “the village” helped to raise all of the children. Margaret was a mother figure to so many other kids besides her only child by birth as she often hosted the children of her extended family in her home.  She has many nieces and nephews who consider her an additional parent to them.

During Charles’ school age years, she worked the night shift at St. Anthony’s Hospital (where both of her granddaughters were born) as a nurse’s aid in the pediatric unit for 25 years. After the death of Doc in 1980, Margaret retired from Saint Anthony Hospital and moved to Madison, Wisconsin where she helped Charles & Pat raise her grandchildren.  During her time in Madison, Margaret served as a volunteer and an advocate of the Foster Grandparents program and was a member of the Coalition of Older Adults, nicknamed the “Grey Panthers”.  She drove a legendary vehicle in her early years there- a turquoise Firebird with white interior. It was not your typical grandmother’s car, and it turned the heads of Korri and Adrienne’s friends. She also looked much younger than her age, causing many people to exclaim- “That’s your GRANDMA?!?”. In 2014, after a long anticipated wait for the role, Margaret became a great grandmother to Ellis Johnson, the son of Korri Ellis and Thad Johnson.

Margaret had an unrelenting spirit that caught the attention of so many people that she encountered in her long life. This persisted even into her last years of life when she needed to move into assisted living. When family visited her, quite often the staff expressed that Margaret was their favorite and that they must be related because they felt like they were her grandchildren- this sentiment occurred until the very end when her memory had been diminished but her spirit and zest had not.

Margaret was predeceased by her son, Charles Ellis (1947-2017) and all of her siblings, Jimmy Sample, Jessie (Sample) Bell, Charles Sample, Ira Sample, Alberta (Sample) Montgomery, Roberta Sample, George Sample, and AB Sample.