Shirley (Phillips) Ela
Marriages
Judge William M. Ela - 1946
Obituaries
The Daily Sentinel page 6A - January 25, 2023
Shirley Phillips Ela
passed away at age 98 on
January 18, 2023.
She passed away in a
sunny room of her own
home overlooking the
orchards, surrounded by
family and in the tender, thoughtful care of HopeWest
Hospice. She was born July 15, 1924, the third of four
children of Nelson N. and Lois Burns Phillips. Her
husband of 70 years, Judge William M. Ela, predeceased
her in 2016. She is survived by her children, Beth
Wilkens (Jeffrey) of Rochester, NY, Wendell (Karen
Kerr) of Perth, Australia, Thomas of Grand Junction,
Daniel Schultz-Ela (Lynea) of Hotchkiss, and Steven
(Regan Choi) of Hotchkiss, seven grandchildren, and
seven great grandchildren. Two sisters and her brother,
Dean Phillips (Irene), predeceased her.
She attended grade school in Clifton, and graduated
valedictorian of Grand Junction High School in 1941.
During World War II she was a volunteer Red Cross
nurse’s aid at St. Mary’s Hospital, earned her A.A. at
Mesa Junior College, and worked in engineering at
Boeing Aircraft in Seattle before returning to finish
her B.A. at University of Colorado. Upon her marriage,
they moved to Cambridge, MA where she worked as a
professional typist supporting Bill as he earned his law
degree at Harvard. They returned to Grand Junction in
1949, where she played French Horn in the symphony,
received the Lioness of the Year Award, and was a
charter member of the League of Women Voters.
She was President of the Mesa County Community
Foundation, served on the Colorado State Water
Quality Control Commission, was a board member of
the Western Colorado Community Foundation, helped
expand Hope West to Delta County, and was a longtime member of PEO and Reviewers Club. Her life was
deeply rooted in fruit farming. She worked closely with
her father and brother with family orchards near Clifton
until 1996 when Bill and Shirley moved to newly
purchased orchards near Hotchkiss, where she and her
son built Ela Family Farms until her passing. She was
passionate to the end about agriculture and the land, and
in 2010 received the Lifetime Achievement Award in
Horticulture from the Western Colorado Horticultural
Society. In her inimitable fashion, she wrote for her own
obituary, “She cared deeply about her family, but could
also be a pain in the neck and hard taskmaster, worked
her children too hard, bossed her husband around, and
liked to argue too much at times. So, generally, good life
and good riddance.” Notwithstanding her own words,
she will be greatly missed. There will be no public
memorial service. Friends wishing to remember her
may consider donations to Friends of Youth and Nature,
HopeWest, or the Western Colorado Community
Foundation.
