Ellie Johnson
Elenore (Ellie) Johnson, a beloved mother, grandmother and friend, passed away on October 25, 2025 at the age of 90. Ellie spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, CA. How can one summarize 90 years in a few paragraphs? We will do our best.
Ellie was born in Seattle, Washington, to Helen and Vernon Kershner, and has an older sister Laverne (Lovey). Lovey survives her and lives in Kirkland, Washington. Their mother was a secretary who somewhat scandalously continued to work after the children were born (unusual in those days), and her father worked as a civil engineer for City Light. After completing her Bachelor’s Degree at University of Washington, Ellie became a teacher, specializing in speech therapy.
Ellie had a love of travel (possibly inspired by her father who spent time in the navy as a radio operator in the 1910s visiting ‘the Orient’), and soon after quit her job and voyaged to Europe by ship! After sightseeing for some months, she landed a job working for the US Army in Germany. She worked first in Nuremberg then in Heidelberg at the Special Services center. She started out as a GS5 and ended up as a GS7 working as the Club Director. Ellie lived there for 3 years, traveling on the weekends, meeting people and visiting countries around Europe.
Once she decided to return home, she lived on a houseboat in Seattle, which is where she first met Bruce Johnson. Bruce had the houseboat next door. Ellie wrote later that the first time she met Bruce, she thought “this man will last.” They had a whirlwind romance and got married about 3 months later. Henry and Wilma Large also lived on a houseboat nearby, and the four of them became lifelong best friends.
In 1968, Ellie and Bruce moved to Santa Barbara, California, after Bruce was offered a professorship (Economics) at UCSB. They’d fallen in love with this paradise after visiting. They purchased a home for $31,000, which was more than a year’s salary at the time! Ellie became a mother a year or so later, to Karla, Paula and Martin and devoted herself to raising them and supporting the family. She loved being a mother and later wrote “It was like a switch being turned on. I loved you children instantly.”
Many adventures later when Bruce retired from UCSB, Ellie supported him in his next dream to be a business owner – they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, and opened Bulls Eye Billiards as an Olhausen Billiards partner. Daughter Karla came down to help establish and run the store. Seven years later in 1999, Bruce sadly passed away.
Karla and Ellie closed the business, and Ellie moved back to Santa Barbara, and dedicated her time to volunteering with the Assistance League. She also was able to fulfill her dream of traveling more of the world, visiting Paula in France and then New Zealand, taking wonderful trips with friends, and later organizing many trips with daughters and grandkids.
A rewarding part of Ellie’s life at this point was volunteering for the Assistance League of Santa Barbara (now the Community Friends of Santa Barbara). She volunteered over decades to almost all of their programs, including the Ukulele Lulus, Friendship Luncheons, Hillside Secret Pals, clothing students and foster youth, and also managing the book section of their marvelous Thrift Shop.
Ellie also helped her children and grandchildren (Caleb, Clara, Lily), over the years, and invited daughter Paula’s family to live with her, in order to remain in Santa Barbara rather than move somewhere more affordable but far away. Ellie noted that this benefitted her as much as the grandchildren, as she got to watch them grow up, not be so lonely and get support as she aged. Everyone appreciated this multi-generational arrangement.
After the pandemic, Ellie’s son Martin stepped up to take on financial tasks when it became too much. In 2022, he put his own life on hold and moved to SB to become her primary caregiver, enabling Ellie to stay in the family home as long as possible, until 24-hour care became necessary.
Ellie passed away peacefully with her three children with her on Saturday, October 26, 2025. Her memory will forever live on in the hearts of family and friends.
A Celebration of Life will take place in Santa Barbara, California, February 15, 2026. Please visit https://www.mykeeper.com/EllieJohnson to RSVP.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the Community Friends of Santa Barbara. https://cfofsb.org/pages/donate.
