Ellen Glaser Obituary

Ellen Louise Glaser died on June 1, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at age 101. She was born on April 17, 1911 in Enid, Oklahoma to Bessie (Merrick) and Edward Remington Champlin, the last of four children. The family moved to Kansas when Ellen was age 3. Ellen's life was a model of self-reliance and optimism. She was unfailingly polite and uncomplaining her entire life, even when age had diminished her senses and physical strength. When a visitor bid her farewell, she would typically say, "Okey dokey, you take care." Her friends were of prime importance to her and she to them, at her 96th birthday party, more than 20 friends were in attendance! Her neighbors, friend Maxine Headrick and caregivers Megan Duncan and Pat Gonzales provided the assistance that allowed her to live in her Durango home until age 100. Although she lived far from her family, she kept in touch and enjoyed the many visits from various family members, especially her niece, Judy, who considered Aunt Ellen her second mother and Durango another home. Ellen competed and enjoyed sports most of her life, playing on an amateur basketball team (she competed against Babe Didrikson Zaharias) and on a semi-pro baseball team. She bowled in Wichita and in the Durango Women's Bowling League. Ellen's first marriage to Gilbert (Bill) Friesen ended in divorce. She moved to Durango, Colorado in 1947 and met her second husband, Leonard Glaser, on her first day there and they married in 1948. Leonard died in 1985. For 22 years Ellen worked for San Juan Basin Health, retiring when she was in her 80's. In 2011 she moved to a Colorado Springs nursing home to be close to her niece, Judy Bell. She is survived by nieces, Judy Bell and Joyce Francis and nephew, Fred Bell as well as numerous great and great-great nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her Miniature Schnauzer, Willie, her faithful and loving companion who came to live with her when Ellen was age 95 and continued to visit her in the nursing home until Ellen's death. Plans are pending for a memorial service in Durango with interment in Greenmount Cemetery, Durango, Colorado. It was Ellen's wish that memorial gifts be made to La Plata County Humane Society, 1111 S. Camino Del Rio, Durango, CO 81301.