Ellen Beatrice Christiansen of Spruce View, Alberta passed away at the Innisfail Health Care Centre on May 21, 2020 at the age of 85 years. Ellen was born in Rimbey, Alberta on March 6, 1935 to Alice and Irvine Budd. Ellen was known as “Miss Elly” to most everyone who knew her. Miss Elly wore a number of hats, she was a farmer, custodian and she also worked at Johns Manville and at a modular home manufacturer. She enjoyed being outdoors, working hard gardening or tending to her acreage. Mom always had a huge garden, there was enough vegetables and raspberries for the whole community. Mom had such a robust personality, and was such an ambitious worker. She often convinced other people to help do things for her. On one such occasion last summer, one young fella came to pick raspberries. When he was done picking, mom invited him to join her on the deck for coffee. Mom said to him. “you see those weeds over there? you should go spray them”. As he was finishing up spraying them, mom pulled up to him in her truck, she told him to “jump in” this young fella said “what”? Down the road they drove to the neighbors and mom told him that she had to water the flowers and he could get all the weeds sprayed. That was the last time this young fella came to pick raspberries! Mom always had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. On one occasion, her daughter in law Isabelle and mom were doing dishes. With a cigarette hanging out of her moth Isabelle watched the ashes getting longer and longer, she was impressed that they never dropped, until the dishes were almost done. At this point the entire length of ashes fell into the dishwater but mom continued on like nothing happened. Ellen always insisted on making a meal for anyone that dropped by. And there were no ifs, ands or buts about it. Miss Ellie had quite a sense of humor, however most times you had to see it through rose colored glasses. You never misunderstood, because she would tell it like it was (in her opinion). No matter what it was, mom always helped people no matter weather they were young, old, rich or poor. Sometimes this was a major fault of hers. On one occasion she looked outside and saw a man standing in the trees. Se called over to him and told him to come in out of the rain. After some discussion over a hot coffee, seems he had been fighting with alcoholism and told here that he fell off the wagon. So, mom made a call to his wife and arranged to meet at a local restaurant, where she bought them all breakfast. When most people would have been afraid, mom never thought twice. Mom always made sure she had a gun on hand following an incident when dad had been kidnapped. Many years later a young man who had moved here from Holland broke down near her driveway. He brought his young son with him in hand and knocked on the door. He heard, “I have a gun in my hand and I’m not scared to use it” Mom then opened the door and seeing the young child with him asked them to come on in. He has always laughed and said “I will never forget the first time I met your mom” Mom was known to everyone as “Miss Elly” and she became everybody’s Gramma. If you met mom, she made a lasting impression, she was known for her bark and colorful language, but most people knew her bark was wore than her bite. She will be lovingly remembered by her son, Daryl (Joanne) Sharp of Edmonton, Alberta, daughter, Betty (Jan) Nielsen of Grande Prairie, Alberta, son, Larry (Karen) Christiansen of Spruce View, Alberta, daughter Joyce (Richard) Lorenz of Markerville, Alberta, and Raymond (Isabelle) Christiansen of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta as well as ten grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. She will also be lovingly remembered by her two brothers, Gordon (Elinor) Budd and Clifford Budd. Ellen was predeceased by her brothers, Ralph, Russell and Martin and one sister Margaret and a baby boy Francis. Mom was a firm believer in S.T.A.R.S, so if desired, Memorial Donations in Miss Elly’s honor may be made directly to S.T.A.R.S, 570 1441 Aviation Pk, N.E. Calgary, Alberta T2E 9Z9 or to donations@stars.ca. . Condolences may be sent or viewed at www.heartlandfuneralservices.com.