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Ellingson, Mary Charlotte (Barthell) 1912-2002

ELLINGSON, BARTHELL, ENGRAV, JOHNSON, BULMAN, BAKKUM

Posted By: James Barthell (email)
Date: 3/24/2004 at 07:00:46

Obituary: Mary Charlotte Ellingson, 89, of Waukon, died Mon., Feb. 11, 2002 at the Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services were held Thurs., Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon with Rev. Larry Olson officiating. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery, Waukon. Martin Funeral Home of Waukon was in charge of the arrangements.

Mary Charlotte Ellingson was born April 18, 1912 on the Union Prairie Township farm of her parents, Charles and Mary (Engrav) Barthell. She was baptized and confirmed at First Presbyterian Church, attended rural elementary school and graduated from Waukon High School and Normal Training with her teaching certificate in 1929. She then taught at Eell's School in rural Union Prairie Township.

On May 17, 1933 she married Lester Ellingson at her parents' home in Waukon. For two years she farmed with Lester on his parents' farm. For the next six years she and Lester operated the Elon Store. In 1941 they moved to Burbank, CA, then to Akron, OH, during which time she attended L.A. Business College and was employed by Good Year Aircraft. Later they moved back to Allamakee County to farm in Hanover Township, where she taught country school for seven years.
Mary Charlotte attended Luther College and the University of Minnesota, graduating with a bachelor's degree in education and holding a teaching certificate in special education. She then obtained her master's degree in social work from the University of Iowa.

For 19 years she was the director of county assistance for Allamakee County. In 1956 she pioneered the Allamakee County Association for Mental Health and later assisted in founding the Northeast Iowa Mental Health Center, located in Decorah. She started the volunteer program at what is now Makee Manor in 1960, a program that is still active today. In 1969 she organized, wrote, and implemented the first pre-school nursery school, which was the first licensed child care center in northeast Iowa.

In 1972 she began working as the Iowa state department of social service county director. In 1973 she implemented a preschool program for handicapped children. In 1974 she wrote a special program for post-school age handicapped adults, called the Northeast Iowa Developmental Center and acted as the executive director for five years. This program still operates and is now called TASC.

After retirement she was a social worker for Lutheran Social Services until 1997. She was instrumental in developing the present Northeast Iowa Transit System and the Homemaker Program.
She was an elected member of the county board of education for 10 years and led the board in establishing the special education program, which still operates in schools today. She received the Iowa State Gold Bell Award of Merit for the year 1966, awarded by the Iowa State Association for Mental Health. She also served on the board of directors for Camp Winnebago.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Waukon. Mary Charlotte enjoyed traveling with Lester, especially to visit family. She enjoyed dancing, spending time with grandchildren, and she had a love for music.
She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Lester; a brother, Grant Barthell; and three sisters, Esther Johnson, Martha Bulman, and Irene Bakkum.

Survivors include a son, Donald (Jan) Ellingson of Waukon; a foster-daughter, Grace (Kenneth) Johnson of Las Vegas, NV; five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Honorary casketbearers were Milton and Onalee Arnold, Ruby Engrav, Myrtle Tangen, and Bernice Hansmeier. Casketbearers were Jim and Leonard Bulman, Keith and Duane Bakkum, Mark Sherman, and Arlyn Moe.


 

Allamakee Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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