With sorrow in this life, the family of Nancy Jean Emerson Ellis announces her passing on June 2, 2025.  But because Nancy had a deep personal faith in God and the Resurrection, her family knows that the absence now is but for a season. We will see her again, and that reunion will be glorious.

Nancy was a woman of deep inner strength, an unassailable commitment to her family, and a welcoming heart for others.  She was generous, accepting, and most of all, loving. Many friends and acquaintances benefitted from Nancy's seemingly endless supply of kindness.

Nancy was born on October 10, 1931 in Monticello, New York and was raised in Corning, NY. She graduated from Corning Free Academy High School in 1949 and Endicott Jr. College in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1951.  She then completed two years of nursing training at Genesee Hospital in Rochester, NY.

Nancy was an adventurous and creative soul.  As a teenager and young woman, she sailed in races, waterskied, hiked, downhill skied, played the piano, enjoyed writing, and painted and did a variety of crafts.  She was also a free-spirit as a child.  She loved riding her grandfather's horses bareback, looking for imaginary shapes in the clouds while lying on her back on "Grandfather's Mountain," and got into some trouble for running across an active wooden train trestle near home after she discovered it when she was eight years old.  Yes, a free spirit.  Nancy once whimsically wrote that "my childhood was a wonder."

Nancy met the love of her life, Leonard "Bruce" Ellis, in 1951 on a blind date in Boston, where Bruce was attending Harvard.  Bruce and Nancy married in 1953.  Bruce was a medical student and soon a young physician—a radiologist—and a series of moves ensued—Missouri, Alabama, California—for Nancy and Bruce as he finished his training.  The Ellis family finally settled in Fresno, California.

Nancy and Bruce loved the beach, and the Ellis family spent many vacations in Santa Cruz.  Nancy and Bruce eventually bought a home in Santa Cruz and resided there for a few years after Bruce retired.  In time they returned to Fresno.  In recent years, Nancy was a resident at the Terraces until her passing.

Nancy once wrote that she counted her marriage to Bruce and her children as her "greatest accomplishments."  She was fiercely devoted to her family.  She supported her children and grandchildren in all of their endeavors, whatever they may be. She wanted them to discover who they were meant to be and to become that person with abandon.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents Gene and Gus, her husband Bruce, and her granddaughter Gabrielle (Gabby) Ellis.  Nancy is survived by her brothers Dick, Dave, and Shep Emerson, her children Karina, Kim (Scott), Robert (Diane), and Howard, her grandchildren Adam (Amy), Andy (Libby), Kyle (Fritzi), Katie (Taylor), Java (Robert), Lexie, Alison (Brian), Sean (Ramieka), and Brianna and numerous great grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or Fresno Rescue Mission.