Ellen Campbell Champlin

Devoted partner of Raymond Blakley of Monterey, widow of Clarence Alfred Champlin Jr., proud mother of Reverend Cary Champlin Young (Terry) and John Champlin (Beth), delighted grandmother of Katharine Jane Young, Carmina Rose Champlin, and Alessandra June Champlin. Ellie passed away at the Jewish Home in San Francisco, where she was convalescing from the effects of congestive heart failure.

Ellie lived a joyful life in San Francisco for nearly the entirety of her adult life. She was born to John and Margaret Taylor Campbell in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her father worked as a mechanical engineer for DuPont, and the family moved around quite a bit in her early years, including stops in Ohio, Louisiana, and Delaware. She would later describe her distress as a young girl when, starting afresh at yet another new school, she peered through the keyhole of the classroom, trying in vain to find a familiar face among those of her new classmates. Experiences like this helped mold her into the friendly, generous, compassionate woman she would become.

She went to college at Bucknell University and studied education, with a view towards becoming a schoolteacher, and played clarinet in the marching band. She graduated in 1958 with a BS in Education, and promptly took off for Europe for a well-earned vacation. On that sojourn, she heard from fellow travelers of the wonders of San Francisco. Upon her return to Delaware, she declined a teaching job offer in Pennsylvania, bought a Greyhound ticket, and decamped to California.

Arriving in the bustling City, she set up living at a residence hotel, and camped out at the SFUSD employment office until they found her a job. At first she was a substitute teacher, and then got a regular position at Edison Elementary. She took summer classes at Stanford, finishing up coursework for her MS in Education from Bucknell in 1960. Eventually she settled into Room 105 at Lakeshore Elementary School, where she was a well-loved 4th grade teacher for nearly 40 years.

In the early 1960’s, she participated in teaching exchange programs, pursuing her profession in the Philippines, Alaska, and in rural Oahu as well. She made friendships that lasted a lifetime, especially in Hawaii, where later in life she would return for a couple of weeks every Thanksgiving. She’d don one of her beloved muumuus, hang out with her island ohana, and just enjoy the aloha spirit. Also in that period she began volunteering as an usher at the SF Opera House. From 1965 until 2022 – 58 years! – she helped patrons find their seats, and in return got to view thousands upon thousands of world-class operas, ballets, and other cultural events. She would share her love of the opera with her students, faithfully leading a school-wide fieldtrip for a matinee performance every year for decades.

Shortly after arriving in San Francisco, she began visiting the local churches to find the community to which she felt she belonged. Calvary Church soon became the center of her life. A member for nearly 60 years, she served variously as a deacon, an elder, Clerk of Session, and as a delegate to the local Synod. She made many lifelong friends there, and in due time met a handsome bachelor named Clarence, whom she married in the chapel in 1970.

Cary arrived in early 1972, and thereafter came John, and soon they moved into a roomy house in the Parkside District. The Champlin family was a regular presence in the life of the Church most every Sunday throughout the 70’s and 80’s. The kids went to Sunday School, Clarence became a deacon, and vacations and summers were spent variously at Mt. Hermon and Westminster Woods. Ellie’s life flowered into a routine of teaching school, volunteering as lay leadership at the Church, working towards another master’s degree in History at SF State, and raising her kids. She took her classes of 4th graders camping at Fort Funston every year, and hosted several exchange students from overseas.

By the early 2000’s it was time to retire from the classroom, but she continued with her vocation, teaching hospice and house-bound kids 1-on-1 in their homes. Always ready to help, and eager to learn, she volunteered as a docent at the DeYoung Museum. As Clarence’s health declined, she became an expert on insurance, doctors, and caregivers, making sure that he was well looked-after until his passing in 2008.

After a few years of solitude – and through the miracle of internet dating for seniors – an ex-pat Kiwi gentleman named Raymond Blakley caught her fancy. They corresponded by email for some time, and eventually she visited him at his home in Monterey. In no time they were inseparable, and in her last years she had all but moved down there to be with him full-time. Once again, her life was filled with love.

Ellie loved Jesus with all her heart, and strove always to follow His teachings, and to apply them to her everyday life. She made friends everywhere she went, and made sunnier most every life she touched. A memorial service will be held on Saturday October 5, 2024, at 1:00 PM at Calvary Presbyterian Church, followed by a reception to celebrate her life. The service will be streamed with closed captioning through this address:

https://www.youtube.com/live/xxnIuYmpcBY

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Champlin Family Scholarship at Bucknell University:

https://give.bucknell.edu/

This fund provides tuition assistance to Bucknellians with financial need, which as an educator and alumna was a cause dear to her heart.