Ellie Leswing

1920 - 2015

Ellie Leswing Dec. 17, 1920 - May 25, 2015 Ellie passed away peacefully at home early Monday afternoon. She is survived by her two sons, three grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. Ellie was born in Kassel, Germany in 1920, and survived World War II as a teenager and young woman. Ellie emigrated to the United States in 1947 with her young son and American GI husband, Mike, who brought her to his home town of Chicago, Illinois. Ellie gave birth to a second son in Chicago. Tragically, Mike passed away when her second baby was only three years old. As a single mother, she started out in what was to be her life long career of textbook publishing. In 1954 Ellie loaded her two young sons into her newly acquired '54 Ford and drove cross country to San Francisco. She only just learned to drive, and her friends thought she was crazy to venture such a trip. With the help and escort of the truckers on Highway Forty, she arrived in San Francisco seven days later. Here in San Francisco Ellie married Kurt, who become the loving father of her two sons. Kurt and Ellie then founded their publishing company (Century Schoolbook Press) and went on create and publish many textbooks for the children of California. The company was "The Little Publisher that Could." Competing against the giants of the industry, they published the first fourth grade California History book that was inclusive of all the various cultures that contributed to the great state of California. This textbook was used in every fourth grade classroom in the state. Tragically, Kurt passed away after only twelve years of marriage. Ellie soldiered on, rasing her two sons and continuing to produce many of the finest school books of the nineteen sixties and seventies. She is survived by her loving family and will be greatly missed. She lived a life of adventure, with all the excitement, joy, and sadness that is part of the human experience. Services will be Saturday, May 30, at 1:00 PM at the Chapel of Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael.