DeKalb County ALGENWEB 
Fort Payne Journal
Fort Payne, Alabama
Wednesday, 27 December 1944
Page 1.

JOHN WILLIAM ELLIS

John William Ellis, 53, passed away at his home in Valley Head early Tuesday morning following a brief illness. Mr. Ellis was depot agent for the Southern Railway at Valley Head and had gone to work but became ill only a short time  after reporting to work, and death resulted in just a short while.

Mr. Ellis had been depot agent in Valley Head the past thirty years. He was a Steward in the First Methodist Church in Valley Head, a member of the Valley Head Masonic Lodge, a Shriner of Zamor Temple in Birmingham, member the Order of the Railway Telegraphers, member of the Valley Head Civitan Club, and was former Mayor of Valley Head, having served in that capacity for eighteen years. He was prominent in all the civic activities of Valley Head.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Maria Davenport Ellis; two sons, Staff Sgt. John W. Ellis, U.S. Army, South Pacific; Robert Nelson Ellis, Valley Head; two daughters, Mrs. M. T. Holleman, Savannah, Georgia, and Mrs. Byron L. Biddle, Chattanooga; three brothers, Charles W. Ellis, Memphis, Tenn., R. R. Ellis, Holly Springs, Miss., Early A. Ellis, Trenton, Georgia; one sister, Mrs. E. A. Brown, Birmingham.  

Funeral services were held in the Methodist Church in Valley Head Thursday afternoon at one o'clock with the Rev. Allen Wilson and Rev. J. M. White officiating. Pallbearers were M. L. Wright, Sr., C. E.  Bell, L. M. Coleman, B. W. Tate, Donald Brown, A. J. Moore, L. P. Fischer, R. J. Ringer. Members of the Wesley Fellowship Class had charge of the flowers.

Interment was in Valley Head Cemetery with Wilson Funeral Home in charge.