Dec 19, 2020 3 min read

When we contemplate our own mortality, we wonder how we’ll be remembered, and, to an extent, how long we’ll be remembered.

Have we left enough of a mark that our memory will last beyond a generation or two?

Joyce Ellis never needed to worry about that. In Washington, she will be long remembered.

The words “relentless” and “passionate” were frequently used to describe Ellis, who died Wednesday at age 62 following a two-year bout with cancer. Those adjectives were entirely apt. First as a dance instructor and then as the executive director of the LeMoyne Community Center, Ellis left an imprint on scores of lives.

Her impact was particularly far-reaching among young people whom she taught or mentored, or who benefited from programs she led that allowed them to get help with their homework, explore the arts, or just receive a meal. When Ellis revived the LeMoyne Community Center, she overcame no small amount of skepticism that she would be able to make it work. The building was sitting unused, scarred by arson and its doors locked because of mismanagement. But she did bring the LeMoyne Community Center back to life, and it has become a cornerstone of the Washington community.

When she was interviewed recently after receiving an Observer-Reporter “Best of the Best” award, Ellis explained, “I really feel I was put on this planet to help people become better, and upon doing so, I become better.”

Ellis was the fourth of six children and was raised by a single mother. Dean Ellis, her brother, remembered her this way: “Joyce was the most energetic member of our family, and our family has a lot of energy. But nobody could match her.”

Gary Rosensteel, a member of the board of the LeMoyne Community Center and its treasurer, described Ellis as “a force of nature,” adding, “She would get it in her mind that something needs to happen, and she willed it to happen.”

Ellis’ unbounded determination was perhaps best illustrated by the story of one student who was coming to the LeMoyne Community Center and was proving to be particularly hard for a counselor to deal with. The counselor wanted the student to leave the center, but Ellis took on the task of working with him, and, before too long, he was hugging her and addressing her as Miss Joyce.

Rueben Brock, a community activist and an Ellis friend, said, “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.”

Anyone wanting to pay tribute to Ellis can do so in a tangible way by making a donation online to the LeMoyne Community Center at lemoynecommunitycenter.org.

In fact, wouldn’t it be an appropriate tribute to Ellis if the center one day bears her name?