Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Born in 1917 to Edwin Little and Eleanor Colby Little Attending Grosse Pointe High School in Michigan, she wrote for the school paper and won awards for her poetry. She studied drawing and painting, fashion illustration and commercial art as well as journalism, interior design and stage makeup. She also studied classical ballet for 16 years. Ellen worked as a fashion artist for department stores in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio. She later worked at the Detroit Free Press as a reporter and feature writer and the Detroit Times as society editor, columnist and reporter. While thus employed she helped monitor the teletypes as D-Day invasion news arrived from Europe. During World War II, she was hospitality coordinator for the USO ANZAC Club for foreign servicemen, and received a commendation from the New Zealand government. In 1947 Ellen married Sidney Hall Probert. Their union produced sons, John B.C., Richard H., and James B. (deceased). Ellen was a stay-at-home mom before returning to paid employment. She was a twice a church secretary and then executive secretary to the local organization of gardening clubs. She wrote the gardening column for the Grosse Pointe News. She created showcases and displays for schools, libraries, churches and museums throughout metro Detroit. Ellen also spoke at many venues on various historical topics. She was a principle dancer in Les Papillons liturgical dance group. In later years, she was a docent and tour guide at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Estate. She was an ordained deacon at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church, active in the Grosse Pointe Historical Society and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Following the death of her first husband, Ellen married Fred R. Williamson, and relocated to Kingston, Tenn. She volunteered as a docent at Fort Southwest Point and wrote a weekly column for the Roane County News, into the final year of her life. She died in 2015