Ellen Firme

Firme, Ellen Former Beverly Shores businesswoman and 20 year Town Board member Ellen Firme died July 8, 2013, at her son's home in Trail Creek. The Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, July 20, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. July 20, at St. Ann of the Dunes Church, 433 E. Golfwood Road, Beverly Shores. Visitation will be Friday, July 19, 2013 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Notre Dame Parish, 1005 Moore Road, Michigan City and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. till 11:00 a.m. at St. Ann of the Dunes Church. The Vigil Service will be at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening at Notre Dame Parish. The daughter of Myra Belle Abbot and Charles F. Halpin, Gary, Ellen grew up in Gary and attended Horace Mann High School. On September 2, 1950, she married the late Glenn L. Firme at Holy Angels Cathedral. Following graduation from Mary Manse College, Toledo, with a biology degree, she worked at Abbot Laboratories, as a medical technologist at St. Margaret Hospital, Hammond, and at Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Harvey, Illinois and St. Anthony Hospital, Michigan City. At St. Anthony Hospital, Michigan City, she coordinated the Certified Laboratory Assistants Program, for which she developed and published workbooks, textbooks and training manuals for students and teachers across the country. After retiring she helped her husband manage Glenn L. Firme and Associates, and upon his death in 1982, took over the business. A devout Catholic, she lived out the liturgy she prayed. Her life of service began early. In college in the mid-1940s, she led other students in seeking to integrate restaurants in Toledo. She lobbied for the creation of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, was active in the Democratic Club of Porter County, served on the Committee for Coastal Zone Management and was a precinct committee person for Pine 2 and member of the Pine Township Advisory Board. Ellen was a member of St. Ann of the Dunes Parish, the Save the Dunes Council, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a supporter of the visual and performing arts. She is survived by sons, Leo (Mary Fox), Kevin, Theodore (Egle), and Dennis (Beverly); six grandchildren, Glenn, Tom, Patrick, Sr. Agnes, Leonas, and Ellen McDonough; two sisters, Alice and Myra; sister-in-law, Helen Halpin; and nieces and nephews. Her brother, Charles preceded her in death. Among awards she received were the Athena Award (2006), the Douglas Award, and the Faculty Honor Award, Indiana University Northwest, Class of 1974. Memorial contributions should be made to Share Foundation, P.O. Box 400, Rolling Prairie, IN 46371 or to the Indiana University Health VNA Hospice Services, 901 So. Woodland Ave., Michigan City, IN 46360 Ott/Haverstock Funeral Chapel, 418 Washington St., Michigan City are handling arrangements and to sign a guest register or leave condolences online, please visit our website at www.otthaverstock.com