Ellen Rose Mell

Ellen Rose Mell, née Ford, aged 89, died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at St. Joseph Medical Center on March 14, 2023. She is preceded by her husband, Paul James Mell, and survived by her daughters, Karen Mell and Jennifer Stanley, grandchildren Jordan Hazzard, Lauren Wilson, Ian Kelly, Emma Kelly, Eliza Keeney and Lucinda Keeney. Ellen was born in 1933 in East St. Louis, Illinois and lived most of her life in the St. Louis area. She graduated from East Saint Louis High School in 1951. She loved dancing at the Casa Loma Ballroom and seeing live jazz around St. Louis during those years. She worked as a stenographer for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office and in administrative positions in insurance and law offices around St. Louis. She married Paul Mell in 1957. They settled in House Springs, MO, where they built their own home and lake in the country. She became a full-time homemaker, raising two daughters. She was active in St. Louis area garden clubs as a designer and qualified flower show judge. She loved music and dance and had an eye for style and interior design. She joined Paul in golfing and traveling, making trips to Japan and Scotland. In 2022, she embarked on a new chapter of life in Kansas City where she enjoyed the arts, museums, dining out and meeting new friends. A private service is being planned by her family in St. Louis this summer.