Carla Ellis:
CLASS OF 1984
Moffat County High SchoolClass of 1984
Craig, CO
Ridgeway R5 High SchoolClass of 1995
Ridgeway, MO
Ft. Lupton Intermediate SchoolClass of 1984
Ft. lupton, CO
Ft. Lupton Intermediate SchoolClass of 1980
Ft. lupton, CO
Craig Middle SchoolClass of 1980
Craig, CO
Carla's Story
Life
A lot has happened in 24 years. I went to KS to college after graduation for two years, returned to Craig and got married to Derek Barton in 87. We had Ciji in 88 and moved to Kremmling and had Cassi in 91. I got divorced and remarried to Jeff Ellis in 96. Jeff is from Missouri and was in CO working construction so six weeks before Jake was born in 97 we moved to Missouri. I went back to school and got my teaching degree and have been teaching special education for the last 2 1/2 years.
We ride and race four wheelers, go on vacation with family and friends, and hunt, fish and camp. My girls are both teenagers which has added to the gray in my hair and my son is all boy. He loves nothing more than getting muddy on bikes or his four wheeler.
We have gone to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone with mom and dad three years ago and then met Cheryl and Eddie in Cody, took our four wheelers to Craig and rode Yellow Jacket three years ago, white water rafted down the Green two years and went to South Dakota with mom, dad, Eddie and his family and two of Carlene's kids last year.
School
We had too much fun in high school. Best parties had to be Brownings, even though my mom and dad were usually in the house with Bob and Dexter, and John Babbs. Craziest things were trashcan tippin, punking out and going to school that way for days just to bug Fejt, practical joking or paybacks to Stamm and Lassila, sabatoging Michelle Stubblefield's shampoo and perfume at districts and training. I really miss the athletic training. Working at McDonalds with Wendy Henderson and all the Cramers. And the Drive In....my kids will never get life like it was to hit the movies at the drive in. I remember getting 6 or 7 people in Todd Williams truck. I always had pretty good birthday parties too not that they were drinking parties but we would have a good time...Life was fun back then with the world ahead of us. I loved being in the plays and going to rehersals and cast parties. Speech team was a blast with the exception of the all out war with Grimes. I still don't back into a corner real well.
Workplace
I have worked my ass off the last 24 years. In college, I did athletic training as work study and worked five jobs as an intern during the summer. After returning to Craig, I waited tables at the Holiday, where I met my first husband, then worked for KRAI until they laid me off on my 21st bday. That was a drunk fest. Then I went to work for the Colorado State Patrol as a dispatcher. After three years in Craig, I tested for a promotion and out of 60 people and three or four tests, I was promoted to Hot Sulphur Springs Comm Supervisor and we moved to Kremmling. I worked for the state for five years and fell on the ice. When it turned into a lengthy state comp claim because I was pregant with Cassi, the state fired me for misuse of leave. That was ok though because the job was getting to me anyway. I worked as a manager in Silverthorne at an outlet store, a video clerk and and the little gas station just as you come into Kremmling all at the same time. I fenced my yard and started my own daycare which I ran with preschool teac...Expand for more
hing for two and a half years. When Jeff and I got married, he didn't care for a house full of kids when he got home so I went to work cleaning condos in Summit County (Keystone, Frisco, Silverthorne). That royally sucked because I hate cleaning my own house. I went to work for a radio station in Dillon when the ski season ended and I found out I was pregnant with Jake. Since my house sold and Jeff wanted to move to Missouri I left that job pretty quickly too. When we got to Missouri, I sold insurance for a few years, but once again Jeff did not like my hours or commission pay, so I went to work at a school as an aide for a special ed room. I had been a substitute since we moved here and found that I really liked the classroom and was pretty good at it, so in 2000 I went back to school. With a family, I had to work too, so I was a research assistant for an Autism Foundation, bartended and waited tables and worked at a grocery store for the first couple years, then in the lab school library while bartending and waiting tables and working at the grocery store. I continued the grocery store during my student teaching. I got a teaching position in Ridgeway before I even graduated and started up there (finishing my student teaching which translates to a free teacher for them for a month) in November of 03, graduated in Dec and taught there for a year and a half. Ridgeway is a crazy little town full of relatives for generations. There are about 100 students in the k-12 school and 28 of them were special ed-my students. I also began grad school and want to be a principal and decided I needed a wider variety of experience, so I left Ridgeway at the end of 05 and took an add-on position in Cameron. I taught kindergarten special ed in the mornings and early childhood special ed in the afternoons. Unfortunately, the number of incoming students is not as high for the upcoming year so my position ended. I went to Lathrop in 06 about 65 miles south of where we live. I teach k-3 special ed. After getting my Masters in Feb 07, I decided to keep going. I should finish Doctorate in 09.
Family
I have three children. Ciji is married and expecting her first child in Oct. Yep, gonna be a grandma. She and her husband Corey live about 10 miles from us. Cassi is going to be a junior and is a flaming extrovert. She is smart as a whip and very athletic. Jake is going to be 11 also in Oct and has been great in youth football, wrestling and basketball. He loves fishing and hunting. Jeff, my husband since 96 is a supervisor for Premium Standard Farms. During this time of year he works all the time, but lives for hunting, fishing, 4 wheelers and watching the kids sports when he isn't working.
Tragedy
Cancer has been a horrible part of our lives in 07-08. In the May 07 we found out literally days of each other that my grandma Earlene and the girls' dad, Derek had colon cancer. My great aunt had lung cancer, and Marla (Nicholson) Lynch had breast cancer. Today, we only have Derek still with us. The class of 84 has drawn together over the last year to the point that several of us will travel to Craig to walk in the relay for life.
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