Ella Kelly Owen

"Don't give up your dreams. Hitch your wagon to a star."

December 7, 1914 — Lithonia, Georgia

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This is the story of a woman who started teaching at seventeen,
married in front of a Christmas tree with $20 to her name,
raised three children through war and sacrifice,
and built a church from nothing but faith.

Ella Kelly was born on December 7, 1914, on Klondike Road near Lithonia, Georgia—just eleven years after Henry Ford put cars on the assembly line and the Wright brothers took flight. She would live to see the world transform from horse-drawn wagons to the internet age, and through it all, she kept a simple philosophy she learned from her hero, George Washington Carver: "Help the man furthest down."

In her own words, recorded late in life, she tells the story of growing up during the Great Depression, of a mother who was "an angel" who fed neighbors from her garden, of a teacher's salary of $50 a month, and of a husband named Theron who "let me be me."

This memorial website preserves her oral history—53 minutes of memories, wisdom, and faith—alongside historical context about the world she lived in. It is both a family tribute and a document of a way of life now largely vanished: the rural South of tenant farms, one-room schoolhouses, and communities bound together by necessity and grace.

"I want you grandchildren to feel the time and space that I can no longer feel when I go. Carry on from where I am." Ella Owen, in her oral history

Her Story in Eleven Chapters

Chapter 1 Roots
Born on Klondike Road in a tenant farmhouse, surrounded by family who worked the red Georgia clay.
1914 – 1922
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Chapter 2 Witness to Progress
The first cars, the first telephone, the first radio—a child watches the modern world arrive.
1914 – 1925
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Chapter 3 Moving Through Hardship
The Depression hits. Dr. Stewart helps with tuition. Children chop cotton to pay for school.
1922 – 1933
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Chapter 4 Mama's Garden
"Did you know you have an angel for a mother?" The collard patch that fed the neighborhood.
1933
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Chapter 5 Don't Give Up Your Dreams
Peter Marshall speaks at graduation. "Hitch your wagon to a star." A door opens to college.
1933
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Chapter 6 The Young Teacher
At 17, she teaches three grades, builds her own fires, and earns $50 a month.
1933 – 1937
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Chapter 7 Theron
A second date at church. A Christmas tree wedding. "He let me be me."
1937
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Chapter 8 War, Children, and Sacrifice
Pearl Harbor on the radio. Three children. Moving home to care for siblings when Mama dies.
1942 – 1949
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Chapter 9 Building a Life
A children's clothing store. Night school. Graduating college at 46.
1949 – 1960
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Chapter 10 Building a Church
From a rented nursery to a building with a steeple. Soup kitchens. Clothes closets. Faith in action.
1960 – 1990
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Chapter 11 Feed My Sheep
"I want you to prepare yourself now to feel my time and space when I'm no longer here."
1990s – 2000s
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Watch Her Tell Her Story

53 minutes of memories, recorded in her own voice

The Life of Ella Owen - YouTube

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The Life of Ella Owen Fred Nix

Fred Nix132 subscribers

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The People in Her Story

Family, mentors, and friends who shaped her life

Graylee Kelly

Father
Farmer, Lithonia, GA

Ari Dini Abbott

Mother
"An angel" — d. age 52

Peter Marshall

Graduation Speaker
Future US Senate Chaplain

Theron Owen

Husband
Married Dec 18, 1937

"Well, that's why I went into special education—because they needed help. Because if they're in a regular classroom, no teacher can take them individually and tutor them enough to get them anywhere. So I just think that I liked that idea of helping the person furthest down." Ella Owen, on her hero George Washington Carver