James G Ellis

Jim Ellis passed on October 18, 2022 following a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s disease.  He was 88.  He was born and raised in Washington DC and attended Penn State University, with a ROTC scholarship.  He majored in education and then joined the Air Force where he served as a helicopter rescue pilot.  He met his late wife, Monique Ellis, while working on a community theatre production of Stalag 17.  He was stationed at Otis Air Force base on Cape Cod.  After they married, they were stationed in Maine and Georgia, and then in Japan for three years.  He served one tour of duty in Viet Nam and while there was awarded the Silver Star for valor in combat. “Captain Ellis repeatedly risked his own life by exposing his unarmed helicopter and crew to hostile automatic weapons and artillery fire to save the life of a critically injured United States Army helicopter crewman.  He then returned voluntarily to the crash site three more times to hoist out eight more United States Army and Air Force personnel, saving them from almost certain capture or death.  This courageous action was performed in an extremely hostile area under the most adverse conditions after dark”.   His final station was at Williams Air Force base in Mesa, AZ, and he retired at the rank of Major.

               Jim attended graduate school at Arizona State University, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking.  He taught for several years with the Cultural Arts Program in Tempe, AZ. He later became a professional water colorist and was an active member of the Arizona Water Color Society, and his painting, “Rock, Scissors, Paper”, was accepted in a National Watercolor Society Show.  His style varied between beautiful and realistic landscapes to extraordinary surrealist work, often taking the form of a visual puzzle, pun, or joke, like “Rock, Scissors, Paper”.  He taught watercolor painting for over ten years at the Mesa Arts Center.  He exhibited his work, and won numerous awards, in galleries and art shows across the country including in California, Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Alabama, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, as well as his home state of Arizona. 

 He is survived by his son Jim Ellis, daughter-in-law, Raquel Espinosa and grandchildren Ember, Rain, and River; son Andy Ellis; and daughter Kate Ellis and Son-in-Law Rodd Baumbach.  A memorial showing of his artwork and celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, March 26, 2023 in the lobby of the Sedona Performing Arts Center from 12:00-4:00 pm.  A brief celebration of his life will begin at 1:00 pm followed by a reception.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Jim’s name to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research are welcome (michaeljfox.org). 

For additional information please visit the website:

https://www.joincake.com/memorial-pages/jim-ellis/#obituary

If you have other questions, please contact Kate Ellis at tkellis1@yahoo.com  

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