obituary | eulogy | last days | more to come
Mrs. Ellen Cortner, 83, died Thursday, May 7, at the Johnson City Medical Center Hospital following a brief illness. She died painlessly and peacefully, having spent her last hours in the company of her son and many friends.
She was raised during the Great Depression in Gray, Tennessee, and graduated from Science Hill High School and from the Knoxville College of Business during World War II. Her first job was coloring photographs for a department store in Johnson City. Her second was with the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge.
After the war, she undertook her lifelong career as a Registered Nurse.
She graduated from the Appalachian Hospital Training School for Nurses and worked as an RN for over 50 years with the Veteran's Administration at Mountain Home and at Specialty Hospital in Johnson City.
In the 1960's, she returned to East Tennessee State College and completed a degree in English with a minor in psychology.
She was preceded in death by her husband, two sisters, and one brother. She is survived by one son, David Cortner, and his wife Amy, presently of Connellys Springs, North Carolina, and by the treasured members of her bridge club.
During her long life, she was known in various contexts as Ruth, Mac, Sarge, and Ellen. She was a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War and a proud supporter of labor unions and of many liberal causes.
She was a lifelong Democrat (except for one unaccountable vote in 1964) and an avid follower of the Atlanta Braves, Volunteer football, and Lady Vols basketball. She took every opportunity life afforded her to travel.
From an early age, she was afflicted by insomnia, with she often described as a blessing because, she said, it gave her that much more time to read.
Her friends and former colleagues are invited to a celebration of Ellen's life to be held at the Jones Meeting Center of the Johnson City Public Library at 11:00 AM on Monday, May 11. In lieu of flowers, Ellen requests that you make a donation to the A.C.L.U., to the Pet Angels Fund at Robinson Animal Hospital, to the Johnson City Public Library, or that you just save your money and maybe buy a good book.
Published in these newspapers, May 10, 2009:
Johnson City Press (for her friends and colleagues)
Shelbyville Gazette (for the Cortner family of middle Tennessee)
Kingsport Times-News (for the McKees)
obituary | eulogy | last days | more to come