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JUST THREE MORE TO GO

Last of 13 Ellis Children Will Graduate From GHS in '63

By GENE ROBERTS, SR.

     The year 1963 will be a memorable one at Goldsboro High School and in the John B. Ellis home at 106 S. Slocumb St.

     That year, if all goes well, the last of the 13 Ellis children will walk across the stage of Goldsboro High and receive his diploma.

     Ellis children have been doing that off and on for as long as many folks here can remember.

     "Just three more to go," sighed Mrs. Ellis looking back on the recent graduation of son Jerry.

     A son, Larry, is scheduled to graduate from high school in 1959, Dotty, a

 daughter in 1961, and Steve, the youngest son, in 1963.  Tommy, the sixth of the children is the only one who failed to get his high school diploma, but Mrs. Ellis says he has far more than high school training, for he has done intensive study during the ten years he has been in the Navy. 

     Their children, 11 sons and two daughters, range in age from 13 to 33, so all of them have never been living in the home at the same time.  Four of them, Jerry, Larry, Dotty and Steve, are at home now.

Biggest Problem

"Our biggest problem has been to feed, clothe and keep healthy a family of this size," Mrs. Ellis said; and she added "It has been a pleasure to see them grow up

 and do so well without any real serious illness in the family.  To be sure they had the usual children's diseases and we have had a few cases of pneumonia, - nothing too serious, - but not one of them has had a broken arm even; we can be thankful."

     "There have been the usual disagreements that you might expect among children, but we did not allow any scrapping among them, and they declare our most severe punishment was our custom of making them apologize, hug and kiss when there was a disagreement."

     For 27 years Mr. Ellis has been an insurance underwriter, and Mrs. Ellis says, "Let me tell you, you don't get rich selling insurance," but she added that it had been

a pleasure to see how the members of the family would get jobs and add to the

cont'd below

 income.

Boys Had Jobs

     She said most of the boys held jobs of one kind or another and helped out greatly in clothing themselves.  More than half of the boys at one time or another had paper routes to earn spending and clothing money; and aside from being carrier boys for the News-Argus -- and one or two of them for the News and Observer -- at least two of them did other work on the News-Argus.  Jimmy, who this spring received his master's degree from East Carolina College worked in the news department of the paper at various times; and the oldest of the two daughters, Carolyn, now Mrs. Bobby Brock, of Goldsboro, operated a teletype-setter perforator.

     John Jr., who has been in the navy for 16 years, did not see his sister, Dotty, until she was over three years old, and did not recognize his sister, Carolyn, who had changed from a blond to a brunette while he was away.

     Mrs. Ellis was active in the Elm Street Methodist church for many years, serving much of the time as pianist; but now she and Mr. Ellis are members of the St. Paul Methodist church as are Jerry, Larry, and Dotty.

     In a balloting conducted this spring by the Goldsboro Hi-News, high school student paper, Mrs. Ellis' name was submitted as one of the outstanding graduates of the high school.

     Names of their 13 children in order are:  John Jr. in the navy for 16 years; Edward

 (Skinny), in business in New Bern; Billy in the U. S. Coast Guard for 9 years, and before that in the Marines, located now in Corpus Christi, Texas; Bobby, living in Goldsboro; Charles, graduate of University of Washington, now with U.S. Geodetic Survey in Alaska; Tommy, 10 years in the navy, now in Philadelphia; Jimmy, on the staff of the Daily Reflector, Greenville; R. B. "Bud," in the army at Albuquerque, New Mexico; Carolyn, Mrs. Bobby Brock, of Goldsboro; Jerry, Larry, Dotty and Steve of the home.  ■

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