Ellen Blance, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away on Saturday, April 12, 2025 at the age of 93.
Ellen Blance
Ellen was the embodiment of positivity, and the center of her close-knit family. She was born on June 26, 1931 in Whitburn, a small coastal village in the Northeast of England. Like others of her generation in World War II England, as a young child she was evacuated to a family faraway in the countryside – an experience that helped shape her resilient and indomitable spirit.
A passionate teacher, Ellen and Ian, her husband and soulmate of 73 years, and young sons Andrew and Carl, left London in the 1970s for New York City. The Ford Foundation’s invitation to demonstrate her teaching method to NYC schools for 6 months morphed into a love for New York life and US citizenship. Ellen was the author of the Monster Books, a series of children’s books that were translated into 10+ languages. After many years as a teacher of the gifted in the Rye Brook, NY school district, Ellen and Ian moved to New Canaan in 1998, where they enjoyed being close to their son Andrew, daughter-in-law Kathy, and granddaughters Chelsea and Felicity.
Ellen loved literature, gardening, traveling the world with Ian, and helping others. Most of all, she loved spending time with her family, especially her granddaughters.
Ellen lived her life by her favorite motto, ‘be kinder than you need to be.’