Josephine Elizabeth Butner Ellis

Josephine Elizabeth Butner Ellis, 94, passed away on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at Forsyth Medical Center. She was born June 29, 1919 to Ernest Clemens Butner and Ruth Elizabeth Miller Butner of Advance. She was educated at Smith Grove School and lived most of her life in Davie County. She was married for over 50 years to the late James Roy Ellis. Mrs. Ellis was a homemaker, a devoted wife and mother and a diligent caregiver to the elder generation of her family. She worked briefly for Morris-Johnson Distributors in Winston-Salem. She was also a longtime active member of the East Davie Home Extension Club; in which she was elected club woman of the year. Her hobbies included sewing and flower gardening. She was a lifelong member of Macedonia Moravian Church and was active in the Women's Auxiliary, Children's church school and Bible school and she served as a lovefeast diener for many years. Her Moravian heritage was important to her as she was seventh generation of direct Butner descendants from historic Old Salem. The ancestral home is the restored Adam Butner house there. Her survivors include a daughter, Johnsie Ellis Brannon; a son, James Mondell Ellis and wife Marilyn; four grandchildren, Warren Brannon, Jr., James Brannon and wife Monica, Dell Ellis and wife Elizabeth, and Marnie Wills and husband Ed; four great grandchildren, Trey Ellis, Caroline Wills, Tavener Brannon and Hampton Brannon; two step-great grandchildren, Chrissy and Lori Workman and a brother-in-law, Earl Steelman. Having outlived all the brothers and sisters in her family and those in her husband's family, she became the matriarch of the extended family with many beloved cousins, nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband and her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother, Kenneth Butner and her sisters, Dorothy Phillips and Eva Lee Steelman and her son-in-law, The Reverend Warren Brannon, Sr. A funeral service will be held 3:00 p.m. Saturday, November 9, 2013 at Hayworth-Miller Kinderton Chapel, 108 E. Kinderton Way, Advance, NC 27006 with Rev. Jeff Carter officiating. The family will receive friends following the service. A private burial will be held Monday at Westlawn Gardens of Memory. Memorials may be made to Macedonia Moravian Church 700 NC Hwy 801 North, Advance, NC 27006. Online condolences may be made to www.hayworth-miller.com.



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