W.C. Ellis

April 23, 1931 - December 5, 2010

W.C. Ellis, 79, passed away on December 5, 2010 after a several year battle with cancer.

Friends and family are invited to attend a memorial service set for 2 p.m. Saturday, December 11 at Clay United Methodist Church located at 169 Highway 148, Clay, Louisiana.

He entered and left this life at his beloved home in Clay, Louisiana early on a bright and crisp Sunday morning. The cows he loved so much were just outside his window with their regular morning greeting.

W. C. was born April 23, 1931, the second child of James and Ledie Ellis, representing the third generation of Ellis' to work the Northeast Louisiana farmland. Bill's mother was tragically killed in a car accident when he was 6. As a result, their father and the extended family of strong and intelligent Ellis women raised W.C., and his sister, Anne Lois. The unique family arrangement contributed enormously to the exceptional man, husband and father he would become.

Many friends and extended family that provided the love surrounded him early in his life, and example set by hard work, family bond and strength of community. It would be these values upon which he lived each and every day of his life.

After attending High School at Quitman, La., he studied at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute where he received his bachelor's degree in 1953. He received his master's degree in 1955 and his doctorate in 1958 at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

While at the University of Missouri, he met the girl of his dreams, Bobbie Louise Scroggins. Ironically, both grew up only minutes from each other in North Louisiana but met while Bobbie was a student at Stephen's College in Columbia, Missouri. They married in 1955 and shared 55 wonderful years together.

In 1958 W.C. was awarded a NATO Post Doctoral Fellowship at Rowett Research Institute, Buckburn in Aberdeen, Scotland. He and his wife and daughter, Linda spent a year living abroad and traveling throughout Europe.

In 1959, the family returned to the U.S. where W. C. began his new post with Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He devoted the next 48 years to his love of Animal Science in research and teaching in the specific area of ruminant nutrition.

It was during these same years he and his wife raised their three children, Linda Louise Ellis Grumbles, Pamela Ann Ellis Maunz, and William Keith Ellis. They were active members of the United Methodist Church in Bryan, Texas.

W.C. touched the lives of many people with his warmth, kindness and sense of humor. He was fortunate to have friends and colleagues all over the world.

W.C. is survived by his wife, Bobbie Louise Scroggins Ellis of Clay, Louisiana. His children, Linda Louise Ellis Grumbles and husband, Randy, of Celina, Texas, Pamela Ann Ellis Maunz and husband, Eric, of West Monroe, Louisiana and William Keith Ellis and wife, Debra, of College Station, Texas; grandchildren, Tina Louise McMahon and husband, Donald, of Celina, Texas, Brandon Reid Grumbles and wife, Elizabeth, of Celina, Texas, Victoria Paige Maunz and Christian Ellis Maunz, both of West Monroe, Louisiana, Avery Brooke Ellis, Ethan Parker Ellis and Elijah Keith Ellis, all of College Station, Texas; and his great-grandchildren, Mia Louise McMahon, Patrick Ryan McMahon and Ansley Aaron McMahon of Celina, Texas, Mason Reid Grumbles and Army Ellison of Celina, Texas.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations may be made to the Clay United Methodist Church, Attention Brenda Atkins, Treasurer, 2388 Highway 818, Ruston, Louisiana 71270.

Edmonds Funeral Home, 228 Allen Avenue, Jonesboro, LA., 71251 For information call, 800 685-7550