Ellis Andrews

Ellis Marie Shafer Andrews, 91, daughter of Susan Bingman and Floyd E. Shafer, passed away on June 27, in Gurnee, Illinois. Born on February 28, 1928, she was a member of the Athens High School graduating class of 1946. In the spring of 1947 she met Jack Andrews, a student at Ohio University. They dated for approximately 16 months before they came up with a plan to elope. As plans go, everything went wrong, and they had to confess the attempt to her parents. They were married two weeks later. After Jack’s graduation, they moved to his hometown of Cincinnati, and then to New York in 1956, and lived in New York State until after his retirement. They then moved to Hilton Head, SC.

Ellis Marie was a loving mother and homemaker who enjoyed reading, playing bridge, golf, bingo, and socializing with friends. She was a member of Eastern Star and various churches depending on her residence.

Ellis Marie was predeceased by her parents, her stepmother Forrest Shafer, her mother-in-law Olive May Andrews and father-in-law John T.R. Andrews; her sister Donna and her brother-in-law Roy Adams, sister-in-law Olive May Andrews Shuck and brother-in-law Gordon Shuck; and Ellis Marie’s husband Jack Andrews. Upon Jack’s death, she sold their Hilton Head home and moved to a senior living center in Lindenhurst, Illinois. She subsequently moved in with her daughter Becky’s family before living in a memory care facility in Gurnee.

She is survived by her daughters Debra Lynn Andrews of Albany, OH, Rebecca Lee (Robert Wells) of Gurnee, IL, and Nancy Sue Andrews, of Maspeth, NY; grandson Ian Robert Wells of Gurnee, IL, granddaughter Lindsay Wells (Takashi Kurachi) of Tokyo, Japan; and by a sister-in law Marguerite (Norman Knepper); and numerous nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren from all over the United States.

No services are planned for Gurnee. The ashes of Ellis Marie and Jack Andrews will be interred in Athens.

Warren Funeral Home is assisting the family.