Linda B Ellis

Linda Beth Ellis (née Vander Schoor), of Sun City West, Arizona, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend died on September 27, 2024, after an illness. Linda was born in Orange City, IA to Mafilda (née Dykstra) and Vernon H. Vander Schoor on March 11, 1941, into a large Dutch-American family centered on the Greater Orange City-Boyden, IA “metropolitan” area. After her father returned from serving as a medic in France during WWII, Linda’s family, including her two younger brothers, Verne and Dan, moved with her father’s job as an administrator for the VA, First to Sioux Falls, SD, then to Knoxville, IA. Growing up, Linda learned to cook and sew from her mother and learned fish and to appreciate an off-color joke from her father. She never did learn to appreciate fishing, but she was a marvelous cook and seamstress, and she always loved a good joke.

In the summer of 1958, shortly after moving to Knoxville, she met Charles Ellis just before the start of their senior year. They soon started dating, and Chuck and Linda were together the rest of Linda’s life. After high school, she graduated from Broadlawns Nursing School in Des Moines, IA. Linda and Chuck were married in August 1962 and started their life together. Chuck’s work took them and their boys from Iowa City, IA to Appleton, WI, Chicago,Kansas City, Portland, OR, and finally to Phoenix, AZ.

Linda worked as a nurse for over 50 years from 1963 until she fully refired in 2015, first doing primarily cardiac care, including being on an early open-heart team in Appleton, WI, and being a charge nurse on telemetry units from Kansas City to Portland to Phoenix, before she transitioned to occupational health nursing. She was a remarkable nurse, possessed of excellent technical skills that were seamlessly blended with compassion and caring for the patient as a person. She won accolades from patients, physicians, and her fellow nurses everywhere she practiced. She said that her most rewarding nursing practice was when she was the parish nurse for Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Phoenix. She felt it was the most personally impactful nursing she was ever lucky enough to do.

Even with all these professional accomplishments, Linda’s greatest love was her family. She and Chuck had two sons, Joe and Rob, and she loved all her boys. She ensured that her family knew that they were loved and safe and capable of wonderful things. Linda’s love for, and skill at, sewing allowed her to make stylish outfits that always looked great, sometimes at the last minute before an evening out. This greatly amused Joe and Rob as she furiously cut and sewed on a Saturday afternoon in her basement sewing room. She loved old movies that were on late at night. Black and white films from the 30s and 40s were her favorite; screwball comedies were her happy place. She loved cooking for others and took enormous satisfaction from feeding her family and friends, it was a love language for her. She especially loved cooking for extended family and groups during the holidays. Her Thanksgiving spreads were legendarily delicious amongst aftendees, and the table was filled with love and laughter. Linda was a gracious hostess, and holiday celebrations were always occasions of such immense joy that they would have shamed Norman Rockwell.

Linda leaves behind her beloved husband of 62 years, Chuck, her two boys, Joe (Emily) of Phoenix, AZ and Rob (CK) of Flagstaff, AZ, and her grandchildren, Kafie, Jacob, Morgan, Conner, and Grant, her brothers Verne Vander Schoor of Austin, TX and Dan Vander Schoor of Des Moines, IA, her brother-in-law Larry Ellis and his wife Dori of Pleasanton, CA, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and Thanksgiving plus-ones. Linda had admirable midwestern qualifies instilled in her by her family: thinking of others before herself, genuine kindness and compassion, togetherness, hard work, and most of all, love. She and Chuck passed those values on to their children, who do their best to live up to them. She leaves a huge hole in our world, and we will miss her forever. The wider world is a poorer place without her, but her memory warms our hearts. A Celebration of Life will be held at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church 3839 E. Shea Blvd Phoenix, AZ 85028 on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 11:00 am, with a reception to follow.