Joyce Elllis
Joyce Ellis, a strong, fierce and relentless advocate for children, and a passionate dancer who stepped away from her successful dance studios to re-open the LeMoyne Community Center, died Wednesday night.
“Miss Joyce,” as she was affectionately known, was 62 and had battled cancer.
“She has always been a force. She has given her entire life to this community in an attempt to make it better,” said family friend Dr. Rueben Brock. “Few people have lived their lives making such an attempt to serve others. Her passing is a huge loss to this community because she took up the mantle of helping a community that needed a lot of help. It’s going to be incumbent of the community to pick up that mantle and make sure her legacy lives on.”
From the moment Ellis became Executive Director of the LeMoyne Community Center in 2007, she was singularly dedicated to fulfilling the organization’s mission of providing a stable environment for children in the community to grow and to learn.
Under Ellis’s leadership, the LeMoyne Center impacted children and the community through education, arts, health, and recreational programs.
She created Camp Challenge, a summer camp that enabled children to explore the world through the arts and creativity; began Homework and More, a program that provides students with help on homework assignments and access to educational, sport and recreational programs; and launched Coco’s Christmas, an annual event that provides Christmas gifts and a meal for area families in need.
She established a county-wide food program that provided meals every day for hundreds of children at 20 locations.
A lifelong advocate for social justice and civil rights, Ellis worked with Dr. Andrew Goudy, president of the Washington branch of the NAACP, to encourage youth participation in the NAACP.
“She was so committed to helping people, and she was especially committed to helping young people. The stuff she accomplished at the center was remarkable,” said Dr. Goudy.
Long before Ellis resurrected the LeMoyne Center, however, she had established a successful and fulfilling dance career.
A self-taught dancer and choreographer with power, grace and agility, she owned four dance studios, opening her first at the YMCA at age 17, when she was a junior in high school.
For decades, the Joyce Ellis Dancers were in demand, performing at parades and fairs throughout the region, in Washington, D.C. at the Cherry Blossom Festival, and at Disney World, and appeared at Steelers and Pirates games.
Ellis, who passed on an opportunity to be on Solid Gold Dancers so she could remain in Washington, taught legendary Pittsburgh Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope the dance routine he performed in a 1992 dance video filmed before the Pittsburgh Pirates National League pennant series against the Atlanta Braves.
Her brother, Dean Ellis, said she taught dancers of all skill levels, ranging from students who went on to have successful careers in the arts to kids who couldn’t qualify for other programs.
She expected everyone to give their best, and to not give up.
“It didn’t matter to her how good they were. She took them on and let them know they were somebody, they mattered,” Dean Ellis said.
The fourth of six children raised by a single mother, Ellis always loved to dance.
“My mother had a passion for children, too, and she’d gather the neighborhood kids and put on programs. That’s where Joyce got it,” said Dean Ellis. “Joyce was the most energetic member of our family, and our family has a lot of energy. But nobody could match her.”
Ellis, a graduate of Washington High School, where she was a track star, earned a partial scholarship to Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., where she set the record in the 440 and 880 medley relay.
When she came back from college, Ellis dedicated herself to her dance company.
“That passion for dance drove her; it was foremost in her mind,” her brother said. “She pursued exactly what she wanted to do and what she was gifted to do.”
In 2007, Ellis, who had volunteered for various organizations and charities throughout her life, felt called by God to revive the community center, a decision met resistance from, among others, the Black community.
Dean Ellis said the push back deeply hurt Ellis and she considered abandoning her plans, but she was determined to provide opportunities for vulnerable kids to succeed.
“She saw the giant task ahead, and she didn’t give up on that. And ultimately, everyone was glad that she didn’t. Her energy breathed life back into the community center,” said Dean Ellis. “I’m so thankful for my sister for that.
Gary Rosensteel, a member of the center’s board of directors and current treasurer, met Ellis four years ago and was captivated by her drive and vision.
“”She was a force of nature. She would get it in her mind that something needs to happen and she willed it to happen.”
A letter released by the board of directors said, “Joyce applied her grit and determination to continue to overcome obstacles, major and minor, to not only bring the center back to life, but take it into new programs of community outreach. Hundreds of children are now living a better life than they would have otherwise been due to participating in the LeMoyne Community Center’s programs.”
India March, a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College, is a former student at Camp Challenge who later became a counselor.
March, 25, who has worked in the marketing departments of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Portland Trailblazers, called Ellis – who awarded her a Cookie Jar scholarship to W&J – one of the most important people in her life.
“She taught us the most important thing in life is to give back,” said March. “At the end of the day, you can have a fancy car or a great job, but you have to reach back and pull someone up. Her expectations were high, and she was demanding, but she always made you feel cared about. Miss Joyce was like a mother.”
Ellis never married or had children, but Dean Ellis called his sister “the community’s mother” and compared her to Miss Funnie Vactor, a beloved mother figure in the Washington community decades earlier.
“Both were community moms. My sister never had children, but everyone’s children were Joyce’s children,” Dean Ellis said.
His sister had an ability to “reach out to kids wherever they were in their lives and give them love.”
Ellis recalled an incident about five years ago when a student counselor walked into her office and demanded that an unruly, disruptive student be barred from the center.
Instead, Ellis asked the counselor to leave the center, and mentored the student.
“Two weeks later, the kid was calling her Miss Joyce and couldn’t wait to hug her. She was so devoted to kids. She recodnized someone had to reach out to that kid precisely where he was,” said Dean Ellis.
Over her lifetime, Ellis received many accolades for her accomplishments and contributions.
Earlier this month, Ellis was named the Observer-Reporter’s Best of the Best Person of the year, and was recognized by the Washington County Commissioners for her “humble service to numerous programs, from NutraFit and Camp Challenge to mentoring you adults, and actively serving the Washington County Community.”
Linda D. Harris, director of education at the center who has been named interim executive director, said she will miss Ellis’s vision.
She recalled meeting with Ellis at the center more than a decade ago and looking around at the crumbling building – which was under consideration for demolition – as Ellis excitedly talked about her plans.
“I”m thinking, lady, you have absolutely nothing here. But then she convinced me to jump on board with her and stick with her,” Harris said. “To see her take absolutely nothing and grow it into these programs, and to see everything she was able to do for the benefit of the kids and for the benefit of the community, was truly amazing. I feel blessed to be a part of it with her. It is her vision that I admire the most. She could see the possibilities of what the center could be, and that’s what I’ll really miss.”
Note: The LeMoyne Community Center suggested anyone who would like to help the Ellis family to please send donations directly to them. For anyone who would like to donate to the LeMoyne Community Center, please visit the donate page on its website at lemoynecommunitycenter.org.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, no in-person remembrance will be held, but a Celebration of Life event will be held later in 2021.