Frank M. Ellington

Frank M. Ellington was born July 10, 1924 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Ft. Madison, Iowa. Following graduation from Ft. Madison High School in 1942, he went to serve in the Army Air Corps including serving overseas in Newfoundland, where he worked on the engines of the bomber planes until the close of hostilities in 1945. He returned to Ft. Madison to complete a 4-year Machinist Apprenticeship with the Santa Fe Railroad. Frank met and married Genola Grace Suter and in 1946 were married at Kahoka, Missouri. In early 1948, they were blessed with a daughter, Wanda. At the conclusion of the 4-year apprenticeship, coupled shortly with the discontinuance of most railroad work at Ft. Madison with the Santa Fe, Frank, Grace and Wanda moved to student housing at Ft. Des Moines where on the GI Bill, Frank went to Drake University where he received a Master's Degree in music education and administration. Upon graduation from Drake, he taught in several schools in Iowa starting at Waukee, Iowa in 1951. Frank and Grace had welcomed a second daughter Cheryl, born in 1952. For many years Frank performed as 1st Oboist with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. Additionally he played cla...[more]

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et and saxophone in many area dance bands. He taught music for 32 years in Iowa schools. He auditioned and was employed to play various woodwind instruments at the former KRNT theater pit orchestra for many touring Broadway musicals including "South Pacific", "King and I", "Pajama Game", "Man of La Mancha" just to name a few. He also played the yearly Shipstad & Johnson's Hollywood based Ice Follies and many Ringling Brothers circuses. Other work was with the American Legion Argonne Post Military Band, playing 2 concerts daily during the 10-day Iowa State Fairs and with the Des Moines City Band, playing the weekly concerts at the State Capitol "Music Under the Stars" on Sunday nights. While he and wife Grace were employed in the Colfax schools, Frank singly authored or co-authored seven books on Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway subjects, his passion. He helped form the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society. He had been a member of the Fort Madison Masonic Lodge #13 for 72 years and was a 32nd Degree Mason. Frank had retired from teaching to care for Grace during her battle with cancer. Frank eventually moved to Panora and married Jackie Cochran in 1998. With the onset of Parkinson's Disease, he and his wife Jackie moved back to his hometown of Ft. Madison where they enjoyed several years. When Jackie was unable to care for Frank at home, he resided at the Clark County Nursing Home in Kahoka, Missouri in 2014. He passed peacefully with Jackie by his side on December 20, 2018. A service will be held at the Coburn Funeral Home in Colfax, Iowa on Saturday, March 16, 2019 with a visitation at 1:00 and service at 2:00. He will be buried in the Colfax Cemetery after the service. Frank is survived by his wife Jackie Ellington of Kahoka, Missouri, a step-daughter Elizabeth (John) McBurney of Kansas; a sister Marjorie (Charles) Ringwalt of Corona Del Mar, California; two daughters - Wanda (John) Gulick of Urbandale, Iowa and four grandchildren, Michael Gulick, Jennifer (Pat) Gagle, Lisa (Chris) Ullerich and Renee (Chad) Martin and eight great grandchildren, Ben, Lauren, Abby, Grant, Brett, Grace, Dylan and Caden; a second daughter Cheryl O'Braza of West Des Moines, Iowa and one grandchild Stephanie (Richard) Mueggenberg and two great grandchildren, Avery and Owen.