M. P. Ellis

Frances P. Ellis, 87, of Dinwiddie County, a retired Fort Lee civil service employee, died February 25 in John Randolph Medical Center of respiratory failure as a result of an infection. Mrs. Ellis was married for 52 years to Ben A. Ellis, who died in October 2005.
Born Mary Frances Pond, she was a native of Petersburg and the daughter of Leonard Jesse Pond and Mary Lou Moore Pond. She was a 1937 graduate of Petersburg High School. During World War II, she served in the U.S. Navy WAVES and was stationed in Oklahoma and Washington, DC. Except for her war service and a few years afterward, Mrs. Ellis had lived in the Petersburg area her entire life. She lived in Dinwiddie from 1964 to 2002. Mrs. Ellis worked more than 20 years at Fort Lee as a secretary/typist for the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. In 1983, the year of her retirement, she was honored with a Sustained Superior Performance award from the 20th Air Defense Squadron. Vivacious and outgoing by nature, Mrs. Ellis loved to dance and until recent years enjoyed going out with her husband to the American Legion Post No. 2, where both were longtime members. Mrs. Ellis was a lifelong member of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Petersburg. Since suffering a stroke in 2002, Mrs. Ellis had lived at the Waverly Healthcare Center in Waverly. Mr. Ellis joined her there for the last months of his life, after having a heart attack in early 2005. Mrs. Ellis is survived by a daughter, Lisa Ellis, of Havertown, PA; a brother, Franklin Pond, of Glen Allen, VA; a sister, Dorothy Hoover, of San Antonio, Texas; a son-in-law, Michael Schaffer; a grandson, Alexander Schaffer; a granddaughter, Faith Schaffer, all of Havertown, PA; and numerous nieces and nephews. Family members will receive visitors beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, March 3, in First Christian Church, 301 South Boulevard, Petersburg. Services will follow at 11 a.m., with burial in Southlawn Memorial Park. The family requests that donations in lieu of flowers be made to the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association. Condolences may be registered at www.jtmorriss.com .