Born August 26, 1960, in Memphis, TN to Marion Davis Anderson (Akron OH, 7/25/24) and Bill Anderson (Banks County Georgia, 4/9/21). She was the youngest of four children. Her siblings were all boys (Bill, Steve, and Charlie). She was raised in Bartlett TN just outside of Memphis.

She excelled at academics and graduated as Valedictorian from Harding Academy in 1978. She then attended Christian Brothers College majoring in Chemistry. Here where she met Steve Kline, who was studying Chemical Engineering. They took many of the same classes together and they eventually married during the Christmas Break of their Senior Year. They both graduated in 1982. Ellen earned her B.S. in Chemistry. After graduation, Steve and Ellen moved to Houston, Texas, and Ellen started working on her PhD at Rice University. She graduated from Rice with a PhD in Chemistry in 1987. After graduation, she then spent a couple of years as a Post Doctoral Researcher at Rice University. She began working as an Analytical Chemist for Exxon Chemical in Baytown, Texas in 1989.

After moving to Texas in the early eighties, Steve and Ellen decide to spend their vacation time visiting some of the National Parks in the West. This soon turned into a lifetime passion and they decided to make a goal of visiting all the National Parks in the United States. They took up hiking, rock climbing and backpacking. Each year they would plan a trip to a different part of the country and visit National Park Sites in that area. On a trip to Washington State in the early 90's to climb Mt. Rainier, they decided to have a long-term goal of relocating to Washington State.

After 17 years of marriage, they finally decided it was now or never to start a family. Their daughter Angela was born in August 1998 in Texas. After a few more years of working at ExxonMobil in Texas they finally decided to relocate and in 2000 the three of them moved to Anacortes, WA. Ellen became a stay-at-home mom and in 2002, Paul was born in Anacortes.

Ellen devoted her time to raising a family and as the kids got older the family continued to visit National Parks, concentrating on the Parks in Alaska. One of the more memorable trips was when the family spent a week above the Artic Circle camping in the remote Brooks Range in Gates of the Artic NP and then on the Sand Dunes in Kobuk Valley National Park. In 2016, they finally visited the last National Park on the list, Wrangell-St. Elias NP in Southeast Alaska.

As the kids got older and needed less attention. Ellen became involved in many activities in the Community. She became a volunteer for Hospice, became a regular at local yoga classes, joined several book clubs, played Mahjong, and attended Spanish classes. She also enjoyed attending Opera Performances. She and Steve were lifelong Season Ticket Holders for Seattle Opera and occasionally traveled to other cities to attend Operas. She also became a huge Seahawks fan and watched every game. She also enjoyed family ski trips and any activity that the family did together. She particularly enjoyed seeing her children grow up into full adults.

The last few years were spent dealing with medical issues but she remained involved in her children's lives. She is survived by her spouse of 42 years, daughter Angela (Madrid, Spain) and Paul (Anacortes). She is also survived by her brothers.

Donations in memory of Ellen may be made to The Hospice of the Northwest .

To share memories of Ellen, please sign her online guest register and bookmark this direct link www.evanschapel.com/obituary/ellen-kline .