Jean Ellison has keys to full life

By JODI HAUSEN Chronicle Staff Writer

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS n In 1929, before the days of electric starters in automobiles, Jean Ellison’s cousin, Ellen Berg, broke her arm trying to crank-start a car.

Ellison, 89, said she discovered that little tidbit while conducting research for the column she and her friend, former state representative Dorothy Bradley, have been writing for more than 10 years for the Meagher County News. Ellison’s and Bradley’s last installation of “Millennium Moments” will be published in this week’s edition of the paper.

But, Ellison said, she hopes that won’t be the end of it.

“We learned a lot about our family trees and the stories of our relatives,” Ellison said. “Someone else will take it over. We’re just getting too old.”

But even though she’s giving up her role as the newspaper’s historian, Ellison doesn’t plan to give up music.

She’s been playing organ for the Yoked Parish of American Lutheran and First Presbyterian Church since she was 15, her son Rick Ellison of Gallatin Gateway said.

Sitting at the church’s Hammond organ, donated in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Olsen, Jean Ellison’s feet danced over the pedals and her fingers over the keys as she played a hymn recently.

She said she’s proud of her Norwegian heritage. Both sets of her grandparents were homesteaders and everyone in her family played an instrument, she said.

Virginia Wolf (not the author) was her first piano teacher, she said, although at that time most people learned to play instruments on their own.

Her family often gathered to make music; Ellison still has the pedal-powered pump organ her grandfather used to play.

“I love playing the organ; it’s part of my Norwegian heritage,” she said. “(Playing music) was something (we) could do together. There was no TV, you know.”

Playing in the church is only one of Ellison’s myriad musical pursuits.

She also played her father’s trombone, sang with the St. Olaf Choir in Minnesota while attending college there, sang with an award-winning American Legion Auxiliary trio and quartet and taught music.

Eventually she became the Meagher County school superintendent for a time.

John Rohwer has been pastor at Ellison’s church for five years. Working with Ellison “has been a joy,” he said. He credits Ellison with helping him keep track of the family ties in his congregation.

“Jean helps me know how everyone is related to everyone else,” he said. “She’s the historian.”

History intrigues her. In one of the last columns they did for the Meagher County News, Ellison and Bradley reported on these nuggets, which they dug up in the Aug. 2, 1929, Meagher Republican:

* “For the first time in the history of the automobile industry, six-cylinder cars promise to lead the field in production this year, according to a survey by the Chevrolet Motor Company,”

* and: “Tom Meixsell was on Willow Creek in search of huckleberries when he encountered a bear on the same errand. The bear departed and so did Tom.”

She’s seen a lot in her nearly nine decades, including the births of three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Like any elder, Ellison had some wisdom to share.

“I think the modern technology can get people into a lot of trouble, she said. “Credit cards are a good example.

“People need to pay attention to the basics of life, which for me, includes church life. A decent family life is very important,” she said.

Jodi Hausen can be reached at jhausen@dailychronicle.com or 582-2630.

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