Jonnifer “Jonni” Morton Ellsworth
ELLSWORTH, MORTON, PHELPS, OCONNOR, MAENDEL, MARKO
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 7/8/2024 at 14:20:34
Jonnifer “Jonni” Morton Ellsworth passed away on June 6, 2024. Per her wishes, her body has been donated to the University of Iowa Deeded Body Program. A celebration of life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, June 17, 2024 at Oaknoll Retirement Community in the studio.
Jonni was born February 20, 1944 in Philadelphia to Mary Mendenhall Morton and Herman Charles Ellsworth. After her father returned from WWII in the Pacific, her family lived in Ithaca, N.Y. until her mother was hospitalized there with T.B. and she and her sister were in foster care in Ithaca with Ruth and David Kirk while their father completed a residency in Radiology in Omaha, Nebraska.
The family was reunited in 1951 and moved to Cherokee, Iowa where Jonni attended grades 3-9. In 1957, Jonni, her mother and sister moved to Iowa City, Iowa where she graduated from City High School in 1961. After two years at Lake Forest College, she earned a B.A. in history and education from the State University of Iowa (now U.I.). The summer following graduation, Jonni went to Patna, Bihar, India on the Experiment in International living. Her group also traveled to Nepal. The experience was transformative.
After returning to the States, Jonni began teaching civics and history at Belleville High School in Belleville, Illinois, east of St. Louis. During her tenure there she served as president of her chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and negotiated contracts for her fellow teachers. She also discovered a fondness for felines and adopted the first of several cats, Muffin. She worked on a master’s degree which she received in the late 60’s from Southern Illinois University.
After seven years, Jonni left teaching and returned to live and work in Iowa City; first in an administrative job, later as a secretary in the University Hospital’s ophthalmology and cardiology departments. When she purchased an old house and found it needed to be rewired, she enrolled in an adult education class which made her house the class project. She was actively involved in the complete rewiring job. She also formed and finished a sidewalk to the garage and repainted the house.
At retirement, Jonni moved to Oaknoll Retirement Residence.
Jonni was a master gardener who specialized in trees and regularly went to visit and consult with people about problems with their trees. She also was an active member of the local Historical Society, the Unitarian Universalist Society, and a poetry-reading group at the Senior Center. As an avid birder, Jonni never missed an Audubon Christmas count. She enjoyed fishing in the streams in Northeast Iowa and on the Mississippi, floating down the Turkey River in a canoe with friends and being a resident of Iowa during all four seasons.
Her name was chosen on the basis of family lore linking the family to John Morton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps an inspiration for her interest in history.
Jonni was an enthusiastic member of the Scottish-American Society, proudly wearing the Morrison Tartan and attending many Burns Night Celebrations in Waterloo or the Quad Cities. Some of her genealogy efforts were directed at finding Scottish ancestors who emigrated from Lewis and on a trip to the Outer Hebrides, located family members in the same address from which her great-great-grandmother had emigrated.
Jonni was predeceased by both parents and is survived by her sister, Margaret Ann Ellsworth and her nieces: Kathleen Phelps (Robert O’Connor), Carmen Maendel (Nathanael), and nephew Jim Tran Phelps (Mila Marko). She is also survived by her great-neice, Brigid O’Connor and great-nephews: Liam O’Connor, Joshua Maendel and Matthew, Justin and Julian Phelps.
Memorials may be directed to Oaknoll Retirement Community or the University of Iowa Foundation.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen