Sue Dell Dodson Ellis

Mrs. Sue Dell Dodson Ellis, 88, long-time resident of the Beech Grove Community, died Saturday, June 25, 2005 at NHC Hillview. Funeral services will be conducted Monday at 10:00 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Wayne B. Hardison and John Hayes officiating. Burial will be in the Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends Sunday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to a library of choice for children's books. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. The Maury County native was the daughter of the late B. A. Dodson and Novie Blackburn Dodson. She lived in the Beech Grove Community most of her life and as a child rode her pony to Beech Grove School. She graduated from Central High School in 1935, David Lipscomb University in 1937, and George Peabody College in 1939. She taught at New Hope School from 1938-1939. Following graduation, she began teaching at New Hope School in Enterprise, Alabama where she met her future husband. She returned to Columbia in 1946 and was a full-time homemaker until resuming her much-loved teaching career in 1962. After teaching third grade for 24 years at Spring Hill Elementary School, she retired in 1985. She was a former member of the Northview Church of Christ and most recently a member of the Beech Grove Churche of Christ. Survivors include her devoted husband of 64 years, Paul Ellis of Beech Grove; three daughters, Sharon (Dean) Northcutt of Manchester, Paula (Charles) Woody and Brenda (Tom) Miller of Spring Hill; seven grandchildren, Penny Northcutt, Ashlee (Jason) Piercey, Rebecca (Dustin) Welch, Mary Beth (Jeff) Wilson, David Miller, Bethany (Jeff) Jones and Laura Woody; a step-grandchild, Chris Woody; four great-grandchildren, Jonathan Welch, Eli Piercey, Addison Welch and Morgan Wilson; a brother, Bill (Carolyn) Dodson of Columbia; a niece, Diane Dodson; two nephews, Mike (Rita) Dodson and Jason Dodson. She was preceded in death by a sister, Beatrice Dodson. Pallbearers are Lloyd Royce, Charles Hardison, Allen Pogue, Randy Lochridge, Joe Roberson, Frank Curry, Randell Rummage and John Lovett.