Elisabeth Ellis

Elisabeth Gamert Ellis of Spartanburg, SC died peacefully in her home, now Asheville, NC, on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, nearly one month before her 89th birthday.

Elisabeth was born November 19, 1932 in the Free City of Danzig, Germany--a port city on the Baltic Sea. She is the fifth daughter of thirteen children raised by Joseph Gamert and Kathrana O. Glaser Gamert. After attending Hotel Management School in the German Alps, she immigrated to the United States in 1951. In 1983, Elisabeth remarried her beloved James O. Ellis, who precedes her in death, and with whom she enjoyed traveling, cooking, their dachshunds, and the city of Charleston, SC. A fine seamstress, she retired from a thirty-year career at Butte Knit Company, Spartanburg, SC in 2001.

Elisabeth was a charming and intellectually ambitious woman who inspired laughter and reflection in equal measure. She is preceded in death by her son Frank Joseph Iannazzone and survived by her daughter Sally Iannazzone-King and husband Loyd of Asheville, NC and her children Anna Danielle Dulken of Chapel Hill, NC and Michael McFarland Dulken of Asheville, NC; daughter Patricia Whitesides and husband John of Simpsonville, SC and their children Jennifer Whitesides Mangum of Lexington, SC, James Christopher Whitesides of Simpsonville, SC, and Charles Edward Whitesides of Keowee, SC; and five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of James O. Ellis; many nieces and nephews in the US and Germany; and her dearest friend, Nina Young of Asheville, NC.

A Visitation will be 2:00 – 2:45 PM Sunday, October 17, 2021 at Floyd’s Greenlawn Chapel, 2075 E. Main Street, Spartanburg, SC 29307. A Funeral service will be at 3:00 PM, conducted by The Rev. Nicholas Voyadgis. Entombment will be at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens Heritage Chapel Mausoleum, 1300 Fernwood-Glendale Road, Spartanburg, SC 29307.

In remembrance of Elisabeth Ellis, donations may be made to an animal-focused charity for her love of all animals.

Floyd’s Greenlawn Chapel