February 20, 1943 – January 17, 2022
BOWIE – Alta ‘Nanny Rie’ Marie (Medley) Ellis, 78, Bowie, TX, went to be with her Lord and Savior at 10:55 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2022. After a brief illness of COVID and pneumonia, she went to her final rest at home with her children and grandchildren in attendance.
A funeral service will take place at 1 p.m. on Jan. 24 at Freedom Life Church in Bowie with the Rev. Tommy Medley officiating. The burial will follow at Post Oak Cemetery in Post Oak. The family will receive friends from 3 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the White Family Funeral Home in Bowie.
Marie was born on Feb. 20, 1943 in Newport to James and Alta Medley. She spent her childhood moving from town to town, as her father was an Assembly of God pastor. In 1960, after a whirlwind romance, Marie married George McCarley in Mexico, and they had two children together, Rachelle and Burk McCarley. Eight years later, Marie and her two young children relocated to Bowie.
She later met and married Jack Ellis in 1972, and together they had a son, Jason Ellis. She worked at Haggar Slacks before later becoming a licensed practical nurse. Marie never met a stranger, and she was known to “talk your ear off” from time to time. Some called her mom, some called her Marie, but to all the kids and most everyone else, she was simply and lovingly called Nanny Rie.
She is preceded in death by her parents, James Harvey Medley and Alta Mae (Bowman) Medley; husband, Jack Curtis Ellis; fourth and final child baby boy lost at birth, Ellis; brothers, Major Sterling Medley and Bobbie Lavern Medley, sister, Marguiette Louise Wickham and grandson, Michael Paul.
Marie is survived by her daughters, Georgina Rachelle Healer and husband, David and Gwendolyn Yvette Griggs and husband, Steve; sons, Edward Burk McCarley and wife, Christy and Jason Cole Ellis and wife, Renee; grandchildren, Christie Walker and husband, Robin, Brandi Sparks and husband, Cecil, Monica Garcia and husband, Adam, Kristen McCarley, James McCarley, Kara Watts and husband, John, Justin Ellis and Leland Sims; great-grandchildren, Katelynn Price and husband, Tyler, Ali Walker; Hunter, Madeline, Eli, Ben, J.J., Julia and Jolene Garcia, R.J. Walker and Jesse Wynn and great-great-grandchild, Nolan Price.
Arrangements entrusted to the White Family Funeral Home of Bowie.
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