Ellen Martha Keith-Berranen

Ellen Martha Keith-Berranen
January 16, 1948 – November 11, 2021

Ellen Martha Keith-Berranen, 73, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, passed away on November 11, 2021, at Beaumont Hospital in Farmington Hills. Born January 16, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan, to the late Fred and Mary Keith (née Cimbalik), Ellen grew up on Wanda Street in Detroit before settling in Farmington Hills in 1982, where she would remain for the rest of her life. She was a woman of fierce conviction, deep warmth, and an unshakeable commitment to the people she loved and the causes she believed in.

Ellen devoted her professional life to the labor movement as a labor negotiator and bargaining representative for AFSCME Council 25, where she became widely known as a formidable advocate for working people across metro Detroit and beyond. For roughly six years, she lived and worked in Cheboygan, Michigan, her territory spanning the northern third of the lower peninsula. Among her most significant work during this period was her representation of hospital workers within the public mental health system of northern Michigan — people whose voices were routinely overlooked, and whom Ellen refused to allow to be ignored. She also waged a spirited and principled fight on behalf of support staff at Utica Community Schools, when district leadership moved aggressively to privatize bus and custodial services. Though she ultimately could not prevent the privatization of custodial services, the bus workers held their ground — and Ellen made certain that those responsible had to state their positions plainly and publicly — no hiding behind corporate language, no evasion. That was always her standard. The workers she represented recognized it. Over the years, more than one of them offered her what she considered the highest possible compliment: that she was, in their words, “a real mother****** — not like the other phonies.” Ellen received that tribute with pride and gratitude, finding in it a sense of meaning no job title or salary could have given her. She described her life’s work simply: fighting for regular people whose voices would otherwise be silenced.

Ellen held a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Wayne State University. A francophile from her high school and college years, she was fully welcomed by her husband’s family, who opened up an entire world of Franco-Kabyle (Berber) culture — previously unknown to her, but quickly and wholeheartedly embraced. She immersed herself in French culture and language, loved her time in France, and was actively pursuing French citizenship at the time of her death. It is said, with both affection and amusement, that she succeeded in passing more of French culture on to her children than their father ever did.

Beyond her work, Ellen believed in la bonne vie — the good life, lived fully. She loved good food, travel, music, and the particular peace of Lake Huron. She grew up watching the Detroit Red Wings and never entirely lost her affection for hockey. Though she had long since left the formal practice of Catholicism by the time her children were born, she never abandoned its underlying mission. She supported the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Sierra Club, and other organizations she felt were genuinely serving people and the planet rather than simply building institutional brand. She gave her time and resources to causes that reflected her values, not her affiliations.

Above all, Ellen was a mother. Her sons Jean-François and Philippe, and her grandson Joël-François, were the center of her world in ways that perhaps only became fully clear after she was gone. She carried the weight of her family with a devotion that was sometimes, painfully, to her own detriment — her dedication to caring for others came at a cost to her own health, a sacrifice her children will carry with them always. What she gave them, in the end, was not just love but example: how to stand up, how to show up, how to make a principled fight even when the outcome is uncertain, and how to live with honesty and passion.
Ellen is survived by her husband, Sam Berranen; her sons Jean-François Berranen (wife Amanda Hodge-Berranen) and Philippe Berranen; her grandson Joël-François Berranen; and her brother George Keith. She was predeceased by her parents, Fred and Mary Keith.

She will be remembered for her laughter, her fight, her love of life, and the rare and genuine courage it takes to always make the person across the table from you say exactly what they mean.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen of Detroit, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), or the Sierra Club.