50-year state worker praised for service
Ellis was nurse for years at Topeka State Hospital
“The look” was absent from Kathy Ellis’ face as she was all smiles Tuesday morning at a reception celebrating her 50 years of service as a state employee.
Shawn Sullivan, head of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, from which Ellis will retire in a few weeks, shared comments he had solicited from coworkers.
A couple of them, he said, noted that when Ellis observed them doing something of which she didn’t approve she would deploy “the look” parents give their children that without a word tells them, “You better quit it when they’re doing something they shouldn’t.”
“I gave ‘the look’ a few times this morning to my kids as they were getting ready for school,” the father of four said.
Coworkers also praised Ellis as a manager, role model and teacher. Another lauded Ellis, who was seated in a wheelchair, for “steely determination in face of your health challenges.”
Joining Sullivan in congratulating Ellis was Gov. Sam Brownback, who presented her with a 50-year service pin, which he called “something which is pretty hard to get.”
Ellis, a registered nurse, worked at Topeka State Hospital until it was closed in May 1997, a decision with which she still disagrees. She moved to the Kansas Department on Aging, working in the program that determines the level of care needed by people going into nursing homes.
It is a job she continued when on July 1, reorganization made the program part of the newly created Department for Aging and Disability Services.
Brownback said Ellis’ employment milestone wasn’t the only cause for celebration. He noted she and her husband, Randy, marked their 50th wedding anniversary on Friday. Randy Ellis, a retired counselor, joined in the praise of his wife, saying, “Whatever she does, she tries to do well.”
That, according to one of the couple’s two foster sons, Dwight Young, includes parenting. He said the Ellises provided him and his brother Doyal a home when they needed one and showed great patience and guidance at a pivotal time in their lives.
“To know there’s people in the world like Kathy gives us hope,” Dwight Young said.
