Ellen Maxine Greer

Ellen Maxine Greer, 79, died peacefully on October 22 in her Franklinville home.

Ellen was first child to Max Newton Greer and Mary Ellen Swain Greer and one of a legion of Greer cousins to grow up in Whiteville.

She received a BA/Arts Education from ECU in 1971 and taught art in high school and community college; this began her lifelong pursuit to enrich the world through art, which eventually led her to join the design staff at the NC Zoo.

Ellen devoted 30 years to the Zoo, 23 as Curator of Design. She coordinated exhibit design, including two favorites: Rocky Coast and Honeybee. She traveled to Botswana and Uganda to experience and emulate animals' native environments. Most significantly, Ellen founded the NC Zoo Art Collection.

Ellen married sculptor William (Bill) Donnan in 1988, and their shared home in the woods of Randolph County became a studio and dynamic exhibition space for art, as well as home to many pets including beloved Great Pyrenees, Edgar.

Ellen and Bill loved camping in NC and in the American Southwest. Ellen also loved trips to Sunset Beach with her dear friends, the Beach Bunnies. Together they enjoyed long walks to Bird Island, competitive Catan, reading novels (especially mysteries), and creating art of all kinds.

Ellen paid attention to the natural world – rock patterns, plants, animal life – and these became a consistent theme in the pieces she created, many of which were exhibited throughout the Southeast and in personal collections.

Ellen passionately championed humanitarian causes and environmental conservation. In her final years she helped found "Stand up On Salisbury" (SOS), a grassroots activist group.

Ellen is survived by her husband Bill, sister Lucy Moody and husband Brett, and a host of cousins, nieces, and nephews, including Denise Moody who works at the Zoo.

Memorials can be made to Randolph County Library, Hospice of Randolph, and World Central Kitchen. Midstate Cremation & Funeral Service in Asheboro is honored to assist the family of Mrs. Ellen Maxine Greer.