Mona Ellis left quite the legacy. Literally.
Ellis, who passed away in September of 2025 at the age of 92, left a gift in her will to benefit the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital. That gift put her into the Marshall Health Network Foundations Legacy Society. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Simply put, Ellis was a giver. It’s just who she was.
“She just wanted to do for people,” said Linda Hensley, the executor of Ellis’ estate and former co-worker of hers at Twentieth Street and then City National Bank. “It was just her nature to want to do for others. She didn’t want to take or want someone doing for her.”
Ellis, who never married, worked at the bank for 50 years. She began as a teller and then moved on to some other positions, including new accounts representative, where she spent much of her time not just counting money but helping people with various issues.
Hensley noted that Ellis was also very appreciative of the McGinnis family who owned Twentieth Street Bank. She had good relationships with not only the McGinnis family, but her co-workers and the community in general.
When she retired from the bank at age 70, she began volunteering at Cabell Huntington Hospital in the gift shop. She faithfully volunteered there for about a decade before cutting back to help care for a friend.
“She worked there two or three days a week,” Hensley said. “She knew somebody who used to volunteer at the hospital, and that got her started. She was just people oriented. She worked there with friends Gerri Thompson, Bessy Xenakie, and Syd Hanson. She made several friends there.”
Ellis spent much of her life helping others. She served as a caregiver for her mother before she passed. She loved cars, dogs, the Cincinnati Reds, and travel – especially to the beach and made regular trips. Ellis was also an active member at New Hope Church in Proctorville, Ohio. She served in multiple ways and even late in life was about the business of being the church. She regularly took friends to their own churches when they couldn’t get there by themselves.
In her will, Ellis also left gifts to the animal shelter, the city mission, the foodbank, and her church. She didn’t have any close family, but she had a multitude of friends that were impacted by her life, not the least of which was Hensley.
“She just made you want to do for others,” she said. “She had that servant attitude and always wanted to be able to help. She came to work every day. She was very conscientious. She used to joke with me about helping her turn her computer on.”
Hensley said that even in her final years when she lived at the Wyngate in Proctorville she was mobile and often could be found up and around helping those in wheelchairs or who struggled with mobility. She didn’t want to bother others, just preferred to make sure others were cared for.
“Her servant attitude just overflowed,” she said.
That’s a legacy worth leaving.
