Steve Ellis

Stephen “Steve” Douglas Ellis went to be with the Lord on the morning of August 13th 2022 at the age of 65.

He was born in Fresno, CA in 1957 and he lived there with his mom, dad and five siblings until he was a teen. Then the family moved to Dalton, GA and he attended North Whitfield High School. He got a baby sister while he was there. He went on to serve as a Deck Seaman in the Navy from 1975 to 1979 and met his first wife Peggy in San Diego. They married in 1978 and moved to Fresno where his brother Gary, brother-in-law Rowland and Peggy’s parents moved out to join them over the years. He and Peggy had four children in the 80s and 90s and attended Cedar Avenue Baptist Church. During that time, he worked as a forklift repair technician at Quinn Cat and other shops. The family moved to Washington state in 1999, where they attended Temple Baptist of Fircrest and later Berean Baptist of Puyallup. Steve was a trainer and manager at Washington Lift Truck. In 2004, the family moved to Joplin, MO where Steve worked as a manager at Wiese Material Handling Company and attended Southside Baptist Church. He then transferred to St. Louis as a trainer from 2006 to 2010. While there, the family attended First Baptist Church of Wildwood. In 2010, the family returned to Joplin and Southside Baptist. His wife Peggy passed away from cancer in 2013. He went on to meet his second wife Carole and they married in 2015. Through his marriage, he gained two stepchildren. Before his death, he worked for Medley Equipment Company as a Field Service Tech.

Steve loved the Lord and was constantly involved in ministry at the church. He ran the sound board in several churches, was a deacon or a trustee, ran the van ministry at Southside, was an AWANA leader, Sunday School teacher and helped in any way he could. Steve helped people, that’s who he was. If your car needed repair, he’d fix it; he’d mow your lawn, get you some groceries, help you with the rent. We don’t even know how many people he’s helped over the years. Beyond that, he loved going Jeeping. He liked rock crawling, mudding, and just going out in the woods with friends. He had so many friends, everywhere he lived. He was such a fun guy to spend time with and he told the best stories.

Steve was preceded in death by his father William “Pete”, mother, Phyllis and first wife, Peggy. He is survived by his wife Carole and stepdaughter Lindsay of the home; his daughters Kay and Emily of Joplin, MO; his son John of OKC, OK; daughter Joy of CO; stepdaughter Brooke of Fairland, OK; sisters Cyndie, Denise, Amy and brother James of Varnell, GA; sister Felicia of NC, and brother Gary of Madera, CA. He is also survived by 5 grandchildren, many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *