Mary Ellen Ekman

Mary Ellen Ekman passed away on July 11, 2018.  She was born as Mary Ellen Benson, April 15, 1922 in Bridgeton, Indiana.  Raised in a farming family, she graduated from Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana State University) with degrees in Mathematics and Music in 1944 and pursued a career in teaching.  After several years as an elementary school teacher in Earl Park, Indiana, she and a cousin moved to Indio, California.  She met her future husband, Jack Ekman there, whom she married after a whirlwind month-long courtship. She ultimately retired following a career as a Fifth Grade and traveling Music teacher in the Sacramento area. The life of a schoolteacher afforded her time each summer to go camping and fishing with her family. After her retirement in 1978, Mary Ellen and her husband were fortunate to have lived in such varied places as Phoenix, Prescott and Sun City, Arizona; Sequim, Washington; Carson City, Nevada, and after her husband passed in 2009, Alexandria, Virginia. Mary Ellen is survived by her son Dean and granddaughter Emma of Alexandria, Virginia.  Burial is at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona beside her husband Jack.

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