Ellen M Landells

Ellen McCarthy Landells
May 3, 1946 - January 22, 2017

Ellen McCarthy Landells died Jan. 22, 2017, in San Diego, surrounded by her loving family and friends.

Ellen was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Charles and Jane R. McCarthy. She grew up in Columbus and was a 1964 graduate of Bishop Watterson High School. She earned an undergraduate degree in social work from The Ohio State University, and her masters in social work from Florida State University in 1972. She moved to California in 1980, living in the Los Angeles area before relocating to San Diego where she lived for the past 30 years.

Ellen worked as a licensed clinical social worker, and retired in 2011 from Kaiser Permanente.

Her passions were her family and friends, her faith, her clients, pets, and dancing which is how she met the love of her life, Ronald Landells, whom she married in 1993. She and Ron served as eucharistic ministers at St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa.

Although her health was compromised for the past few years, Ellen never gave up her zest for life. Those of us who benefited from her compassionate concern will miss Ellen’s wise ways. No problem was too big or too small, nor did Ellen ever make anyone feel she was too busy to help, up until the day she died.

Ellen is survived by her husband Ron; sister Sheila McCarthy Gardner, Gardnerville, Nevada; brother John McCarthy, Columbus, Ohio; nieces Sara Smucker of Columbus, Ohio, and Kate Gardner of Portland, Ore., six stepchildren, and 11 grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents and sister Charlotte McCarthy Smucker.

Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, at St. Martin of Tours Parish, 7710 El Cajon Blvd., La Mesa, CA. A reception will follow in the parish hall. Private inurnment will be at a later date.

Donations in Ellen’s name may be made to Father Joe’s Villages, 3350 E St., San Diego, CA 92102; website, my.neighbor, org., or Foundation for the Care of Indigent Animals, PO Box 2574, Spring Valley, CA 91979, www.fcianimals.org.

The family wishes to thank the medical staff at Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center for their compassionate care of Ellen during her hospitalization.