This entire website is the biography of an amazing life story.

When Belia Virginia Earp was born she had relatives who remembered the War Between the States. Horses were a primary mode of transportation. In her long life, one that included two visits by Haley’s Comet, she saw the advent of the automobile, the airplane, television, the computer, and cell phones. She lived through World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and the events of 9/11/01. She played piano accompaniments for “silent” black and white movies and lived into the era of the DVD player. She traveled dirt roads and superhighways. She lovingly fostered a family that now numbers in triple digits. And through it all she maintained equanimity of spirit, a gentleness of nature, which endeared her to all who knew her.

Hers was a life of service; service to her beloved

husband, John Brantley Ellis, Sr., to her 13 children and scores of grand and great-grandchildren, to her neighbors and friends, to her community, and to her church.

She worked hard. She loved life. She loved travel and music and family. She was generous with kind words, knew how to comfort, had an encyclopedic memory, and loved a good laugh. Asked once if she wanted to hear a joke, she replied, “Is it a clean one or a good one?”

She would insist that her maiden name be properly pronounced. Earp rhymes with harp, you know, and those TV people got it all wrong with that show about Wild West marshal Wyatt Earp. They made his last name rhyme with burp. My, my!

Everyone who knew the woman her offspring came to call “Mama Pete” or “Grandma Pete” retains specific memories of their time with her. There is value in preserving and sharing these recollected moments.