SERVICE: August 3rd. The service is in the chapel by the north entrance (park on the north side of the building for your convenience). Family and friends are welcome to the viewing at 12 pm with the funeral service starting at 1 pm and an additional gathering afterward with light refreshments. In honor of Ellie’s life, we invite those who would like to wear her favorite color purple. WATCH VIRTUALLY HERE Eleanor LaCroix Allyn (Ellie), was born August 19, 1942, at Stafford Springs, Connecticut. She went to Hazardville Elementary School, Our Lady of Angels High School and Nursing School at Ducane University. While in college she responded to JFK’s call for workers and served in the US State Department as a secretary of the Egypt desk and the Middle East desk. She then became a travel agent arranging foreign travel excursions for groups out of Washington DC. Ellie married Elwyn Allyn on April 24,1965. She arranged a beautiful honeymoon trip to Bermuda at the Elbow Beach Surf Club. Ellie and Elwyn moved to Los Angeles, California for Elwyn’s new job at Hughes Aircraft Company after Elwyn completed his Naval Reactors Division service under Admiral Rickover in June 1966. Ellie found a small travel trailer and they modified their Mustang in order to travel across the country visiting several national parks and staying at campgrounds. They took Route 66 from St Louis to Santa Monica on their way to their new home. Once in California, Ellie found an apartment where they could manage the building in lieu of rent. They lived on Venice Boulevard, five miles from the beach. Ellie desired to raise children and upon arrival in California she realized her dream was coming true. In the following three years she had three children, Laurie, Joe, and Debbie. They moved to a rental house in Westchester and graduated to a Winnebago for travel. Through her friendships at the YMCA and the LeLecche League she heard that Hughes Aircraft Company was recruiting people to move to the Denver office and helped Elwyn secure a position at the Denver location. They packed up their Winnebago and drove across the western states to their new house in Englewood, Colorado. While Ellie raised her children she also enrolled at Denver University to study Arts and Psychology and graduated in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree. She then started to take classes in counseling. She discovered she was pregnant with her fourth child, Rebecca, and became an at-home mom. When her children started school she worked at a financial advisory group, an insurance agency, and a precise weights and measures company as an office manager. Once her last child was in high school, she enrolled in Birthwise Midwifery School in Bridgton, Maine. She completed her certificate in midwifery. She apprenticed with Freida Miller in Ohio serving the Amish community with home birth and loved the people she served. She enjoyed the culture of the Amish people and participated in their community when she could. Ellie returned to Colorado and worked with various midwives giving prenatal care and assisting in home births. She discovered her calling and participated in several short term mission trips to give prenatal care, counseling and educating girls and women on sex education, home birthing, and women care. Ellie started her mission work in Mexico. She and Elwyn drove to San Diego and then Ellie drove to Tijuana, Mexico having several adventures and working with churches down there to help the poor. She was flown to Baja, Mexico to assist at the hospital in town with birthing. Ellie then ventured further out and visited a children’s home in the Philippines to set up a relationship between her church and the mission. She served with the midwife in town to assist in women’s care and brought Elwyn along to assist with setting up photos digitally to document the history of the children’s home over the years. Ellie went on several mission trips to El Salvador to a children’s home to participate in activities and teach. She traveled to Juarez, Mexico to the church to assist the poor and teach the kids in a VBS program as others built a house for the community. Uganda had a special place in her heart. Ellie traveled there a few times with her church, Colorado Community Church, to assist girls and women with prenatal care. On one trip to Uganda she assisted with a camping trip to Lake Victoria for the children. Once Elle and Elwyn were retired they made a mission trip to Cape Town, South Africa with their church. They worked with an organization that had a large network that supported a wide range of services including medical assistance to a large community in Cape Town in cooperation with the government there. Ellie’s last mission trip was to Liberia with the Slangon Family. Ellie and Elwyn participated in a large medical group that traveled to places and provided medical services and proper medications. Ellie used her midwifery and counseling skills to serve at those functions. On top of midwifery services and her mission work, Ellie was a mentor mom at the church’s MOPS groups, a volunteer assistant to Pastor Richard Powell, and a prayer warrior for her church. Ellie and Elwyn always used Ellie’s skills to create once in a lifetime trips. As a family they would travel across the country with their children to visit relatives and see the sites. While the children were still at home she would plan trips to the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park at least once a year. These trips became a family tradition across the generations. Hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park, donuts at the Donut Haus, mini-golf championships and horseback riding were some of the families favorite activities. They visited their daughter’s family in Sitka, Alaska traveling through Yellowstone on their way, and went on an Alaskan Gaither Cruise. In retirement they visited France where they toured the countryside and were able to see the beaches of Normandy and the museums portraying the horrors of World War II. They traveled to England to visit the countryside where Elwyn’s ancestors lived. They also traveled to Orlean, Quebec, Canada which is an island in the middle of the St, Lawrence River to find more information on Ellie’s genealogy. Ellie was preceded in death by her father Fedalis Joseph LaCroix, her mother Rita Edith Carignan, and her Step Mother, Olive Butler. Her survivors include her husband, Elwyn George Allyn, her sister Pauline J. LaCroix, her children, Laurie Allyn (John Hilf), Joe Allyn (Delynn Allyn), Deborah Cameron (Mark Cameron) Rebecca Allyn (Euell Thomas), her grandchildren, Lindsay Schultz (Alex Schultz), Brandilyn Turner (Matt Turner), Abigail Allyn, Zachary Allyn, Gwendalyn Cameron, Nathanael Cameron, Anthony Allyn, Zora Thomas, Blaise Thomas and her great grandchildren, Kirra Turner, Atlas Turner, Isaiah Schultz, Ezekiel Schultz, and Cameron Turner In lieu of flowers we invite those to contribute to Ellie’s favorite missions. -Mexico Medical Missions -Restoration Outreach Programs -Eleos Project -Youth for Christ -Uganda -YMCA of the Rockies – plan a family trip in remembrance of Ellie Allyn