James Albert Ellis, Jr. was born on January 22, 1932, in Rigby, Idaho. He was the oldest of 8 children born to Laura Fullmer. His parents divorced when he was 12 and then his mother married Robert McCleery some years later. The family had little money so for entertainment and toys they would build their own model airplanes made of wood, and other items using a lot of imagination. His father gave no support to his family, requiring them to be on Church welfare for a time. Those who could, got jobs or did other things to make money. Among his jobs he was a paper boy, worked at the Salt Lake Fair Grounds and volunteered at the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. He once shook hands with President George Albert Smith at Liberty Park while on a Scouting function. His mother often worked several jobs at a time to support her family. During the Great Depression he was often sent to live with relatives in Archer, Idaho during the summers. One summer, he saw and met a beautiful red head swimming in a canal. Her name was Coralee Squires. He was smitten and stayed in Archer for several years, attending Madison High School with her. When they graduated, he married that gorgeous red head. He was 17 and she was 18. He often said they were just kids! Jim enrolled in the Idaho Falls Business College at nights and worked at various jobs during the day. Eventually, they moved to Salt Lake City where he secured a job working at the Hot Shoppes owned by the Marriott's and eventually became assistant manager working nearly 70 hours per week. The Marriott's transferred the family to the Washington D.C area in 1955. By now they had Connie and Greg and the family learned to survive out of "Mormon Land". The family lived in apartments in several locations and made friends. He eventually became a manager for Hot Shoppes and Bill Marriott would send him to other stores which were having problems to fix them. Kathy arrived in 1956 and Doug came 13 years later. In 1966, they were transferred to Dallas, TX and after a few months, Jim became sick to the point that he was in the hospital for several weeks and almost died. Later, they were transferred to the Philadelphia area for three years and then sent back to Virginia just blocks from where they left 4 years before. He eventually became a vice president over Roy Rogers fast food units which took him all over the country. Living in the Washington D.C. area gave him many opportunities to meet and work with very high prominent officials in government. Ezra Taft Benson, then the Secretary of Agriculture in the Eisenhower administration would bring his family to his restaurant on occasions. After 26 years with Marriott, he retired and bought his own restaurant. All his children, now adults with their own families, worked with him and mom. At one point, they had 5 restaurants, and all made a good living. Later, he and mom served two missions for the church: one in London and the other in Hawaii. These were some of their favorite memories. After the missions they moved to Orem, Ut and enjoyed life at their homes in St. George and Island Park. The love of his life died on May 17, 2016, after 66 years of marriage. Since then, he has longed to be with her and finally got his wish on Saturday January 29, 2022, exactly one week after his 90th birthday. He worked hard all his life and played hard as well. He and mom loved their children, their 14 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren. Jim loved his country and was a fierce patriot. He will be missed!