WILMINGTON — Mrs. Jean H. Ellis was born in Apex, NC to the late Omega Foster Hunnicutt and Mary Howell Jones Hunnicutt. The Hunnicutts relocated to Wilmington from Raleigh circa 1931 and resided on the corner of 4th and Nun Streets. They subsequently relocated to a house near the corner of 18th Street and Wrightsville Ave where they remained for many years. Jean left for nursing school after graduating high school in 1944. She had determined early on that her life’s goal was to be a nurse.
As World War II was ongoing, Jean enrolled at Watts School of Nursing at Watts Hospital in Durham, NC in conjunction with the Department of Defense where the DoD would pay for her education and she would then serve for 3 years. However, by the time she graduated (1947), the war had ceased and her services in the military were not required and she was released from her obligations. Yet, it was during her nurse’s training that she met the love of her life, John Thomas Ellis, Jr of Durham, NC. They married in October of 1947 in the living room of her parents’ house on Wrightsville Ave.
Post-graduation, she nursed at Rex and Wake Hospitals in Raleigh and later, with certain private practice doctors. In 1967, the family moved to Wilmington where she worked at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in the Intensive Care/Coronary Care units until her retirement. Afterwards, not ready to give up the nursing mantle, she taught a Nurses Aide Course for, then, Cape Fear Technical Institute (now Cape Fear Community College) for five years. Wherever Jean worked she was always lauded as one of the best nurses on staff and her classes with CFCC were always full.
Throughout her life, Jean was a dedicated Christian wherever she lived, wherever she worked and was never hesitant to invite others to her church or tell them of the love of Christ. She was always heavily involved in the churches she and Tommy attended, most often by singing in the choir – her other love. Her love of and for Jesus was evident to all up to the absolute very end. Even as a resident of Liberty Commons Rehabilitation Center at the age of 98, she was continually telling staff and other residents of Jesus’ love for them.
Besides loving her Lord, she loved her husband deeply and her family profoundly, dedicating her life to their growth and development. She was an avid reader, gardener, and cook and loved going on camping trips with the family, doing cross-stitch and sewing. There wasn’t much that she set her hands to that she didn’t excel at.
Jean is predeceased by her husband, John Thomas (Tommy) Ellis, Jr and is survived by her four children: Janice Ellis Jenkins (Joe) of Holly Springs, NC; Sarah Katherine (Kathy) Webb of Wilmington, NC; David T. Ellis (Sally) of Hampton, SC; John R. Ellis (Kathy) of Bladenboro, NC and one sister, Sarah Hunnicutt Phillips of Wilmington, NC. She has seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, Jean has requested that donations be made to the Temple Baptist Church Radio Ministry or Hearing Assistance Ministry.
