Paula Jane Ellis Stephenson, 89

Paula Jane Ellis was born April 7, 1929, and died May 19, 2018.

She grew up in Wallace, Idaho, and went to high school at St. Paul’s Episcopal School for girls in Walla Walla, Washington. Paula started attending her beloved Camp Sweyolakan, the Campfire Girls camp on Lake Coeur d’Alene at the age of 10. She continued through many summers, some as a counselor, to the age of 20. She had fond memories of expeditions in the war canoes, swimming, star gazing, campfires and songs. She made lasting friends at camp and kept in touch with Ruby Hill. Paula heard the news of the end of hostilities with Germany while at camp. The camp had no phone, and so the news was delivered by boat, and “the counselors were dancing and clapping on the dock.”

Paul attended Northwestern University and graduated in 1952. She was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority. She met David G. Pettengill while attending university, and they were married at Holy Trinity Church in Wallace on Sept. 4, 1952. Paula and David had four children, and raised their family in Libertyville, Illinois. Paula and her children spent their summers at the Pettengill summer home on Lake Charlevoix in Michigan. Those were good summers at the lake. Paula’s Camp Sweyolakan skills of canoeing, walking in the woods, wildflower identification, swimming, star gazing and a formidable repertoire of campfire songs made for many happy family memories.

When the marriage of Paula and David ended in 1976, Paula stayed in Libertyville through her daughter Susan’s high school graduation in 1978 and they then went on a fabulous summer trip together to Britain. After her mother had passed away in 1979, Paula returned to Wallace to care for her father, Dr. Paul Ellis. Paula worked as the payroll supervisor at the Sunshine Mine. Paula and her father lived at the family home at 107 Cedar Street known as the Beale House, now a bed and breakfast. The entire Ellis clan has many happy memories of that home as well. Dr. Ellis passed away in 1984.

Soon after her father’s passing, Paula met the Tom Stephenson, a fellow church member at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Wallace. They were married in 1985, and they had almost 15 wonderful years together. Paula enjoyed being married to a man whose church was important to him. They spent many summers at Babbin’s RV Park on the North Fork of the Coeur D’Alene. Tom was a kind and patient man, a good cook, and a wonderful husband.

After Tom’s passing, Paula stayed active in her church as a lay reader and chalice bearer. The Book of Common Prayer and the services at Holy Trinity were deeply meaningful to Paula and were the basis for a delight in the church that stayed with her always.

Paula continued to live in Osburn, Idaho, for the next 11 years, and in the early part of the decade of 2000 was courted by and fell in love with a local man named Don Springer. Don was a retired mining geologist and engineer, and a barbershop quartet singer and participant in community theater. He treated Paula to many fun nights out before being diagnosed with a fast-acting cancer that caused his death on May 17, 2002. Paula was mentioned as his companion in Don’s obituary. When Don passed way, Paula had out-lived her last companion, except for the dogs that she kept until the year before her own death.

Paula’s travels included two especially memorable trips with son David and his partner Sue. The first to mention is their trip to canoe in the Quetico Provincial Park of Canada, fulfilling a long-desired wish to see that country. Later, after the death of her husband Tom, she visited New Zealand with both David and Sue. During the years 2003 to 2016, Paula also traveled, canoed and camped with her children in Idaho and Montana. Camping trips into the back-country of the Bitterroot Range at Sand Basin with her daughter Laura were a highlight. She hiked into Granite Park Chalet in Glacier Park at the age of 74 and rode a horse to Sperry Chalet in Glacier Park at the age of 84. All her children can remember spending afternoons with Paula at Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.

In April 2011, Paula moved to Whitefish to be closer to her family, and rented the nice house at 927 Second Street East provided by Sue Novak. Paula was warmly welcomed by Chapter D of the PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization), the Whitefish Chapter of the Women of the Moose, and the All Saints Community Episcopal Church. Whitefish was kind to Paula and she enjoyed the lively atmosphere of the town, the parades by her front door, the active and diverse church, Father Bradley’s Christmas story, and the kind staffs at Bookworks, Montana Coffee Traders and Third Street Market.

Paula hopes to be greeted in heaven by her parents, Dr. Paul Marvin Ellis and Elizabeth Davies Ellis; her brother, David Thomas Ellis; her late husband, Thomas Lee Stephenson (who will say his famous “don’t over-do”); her beloved sister, Marcia Gertrude Ellis Hicks (bearing an empty huckleberry picking bucket); and her nephew, Gwin Simmons Hicks.

Paula leaves behind her daughter Laura Pettengill and husband Byron Lanphear; her son Paul Pettengill and wife Claress Pettengill; her son David Pettengill and partner Susan Novak; her daughter Susan Pettengill; and her brother-in-law Gwin Jackie Hicks. Paula’s two beloved nieces, daughters of her sister Marcia, are Elizabeth Hicks Klingler (husband Dan) and Mary Hicks Miller (husband Bret). Paula’s nieces have blessed the family with the next generation in the Ellis line, Aubry and David Klingler, and Mark and Jack Miller.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 25, at All Saints Episcopal Church, 2048 Conn Rd, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 (406-862-2863) https://www.allsaintsmt.org/.

In lieu of flowers Paula’s wish is for donations to be sent to All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Whitefish-Columbia Falls, P.O. Box 1923 Whitefish, MT 59937 — https://www.allsaintsmt.org/; Doctors Without Borders — https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/; or Frontier Hospice-Friends of Hospice, Kalispell, 42 Bruyer Way, Kalispell, MT 59901 — http://www.frontierhhh.com/donate-friends-hospice-foundations

Austin Funeral Home is caring for Paula’s family. Visit www.austinfh.com to share memories and leave condolences.