Ellen MacEwen Humphries Ellen MacEwen Humphries passed away on Thursday June 26, 2014. She was born on May 15, 1931 in Washington DC to the late Harold and Ruth MacEwen. She grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and later settled in Arlington, Virginia. She retired to Charlottesville, Virginia in 2004 and enjoyed her new home in Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge until her death. She is survived by her daughter Carol Collier Lindsay and husband Walton Carlyle “Ky” Lindsay of Charlottesville, Virginia; Daughter Anne Humphries Arseneau and husband Robert Arseneau of Williamsburg, Virginia; two grandchildren, Anne Carlyle Lindsay and James Walton “Jake” Lindsay; and her brother Richard Alan MacEwen and wife Virginia Bole MacEwen of McLean, Virginia. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington DC in 1949 and from George Washington University in 1953 with a degree in chemistry and began her professional career in a research laboratory at the National Institutes of Health. She married Theodore McSpadden Collier (died 1986), a foreign service officer, in 1955, and they lived in Aden, Arabia and Copenhagen, Denmark, where Carol was born. In 1960 she returned to the NIH as a researcher and settled with Carol in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1966 she married Commander George Humphries, an intelligence officer in the United States Navy, and moved to Norfolk, then Arlington, Virginia. They were stationed in Norfolk, Washington, DC and Yokosuka, Japan. When George died on active duty in Yokosuka in 1971, she returned to Arlington to raise her two daughters. After graduating from Marymount University with her RN in 1977, she was a nurse at Sibley Hospital in DC for 18 years. She was known and loved for her strong contributions to the people and communities in which she served. Over the years she enjoyed volunteering with the PTA, Girl Scouts and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Arlington) where she was in the Altar Guild and produced the Christmas contest for 20 years. She loved big parties, especially when it came to fireworks, and spent years putting on a July 4th block party on North Dinwiddie Street in Arlington. In Charlottesville, she was an active member of the Westminster Canterbury Chapel Committee. She showed an enthusiastic zest for life in all things. She loved her family, gardening, her Pi Beta Phi sisters, and serving a big breakfast (waffles were a must!). She was a gracious host and loved to chat. She was a mediocre bridge player but never let herself be stopped from social gatherings. She loved the beach and boardwalks of Rehobeth, Delaware and Ocean City, Maryland. She was an avid traveler who loved taking part in grand adventures with friends and family in the region, at home, and around the world. We would like to thank the wonderful staff at Healthcare 2 at WCBR for their loving care over the past two years. A funeral and memorial service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery this fall, with an announcement at that time. Instead of flowers, the family is asking you to contribute to a charity that will bring you the kind of joy that Ellen hugs every day.
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