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ELLEN DONALD
With love and tender hearts, we share that our mother passed away at the age of 87.
Ellen came from Grandview, Manitoba and grew up on NW 2 25 24 with her parents, James Barnett and Ina Sarah Ellen Morran and her siblings, Edward, Devey, Elsie Margaret (Maggie) and Bert.
Healthy farm life with good gardens, open fields, and hardworking settlers prepared her for a solid standing in the world. Ellen was the only woman in her class when she graduated high school and she left home shortly after. She worked in Ontario and then joined her teenage love, John Darling Donald in Ottawa and got married in 1958, in a very small ceremony in a very big church.
They returned to Manitoba and she worked with RBC at Main and William in Winnipeg. In the early sixties they moved to Northern Manitoba where John and "Ellie" lived their best life. On the banks of the Saskatchewan River in Grand Rapids they explored the area, the big lake, and made lifelong friends. She left there on a cold March day in 1966 with three children, Mary-Ellen Jordan, Leo John, and Susan Gail flying to Grace Lake in a noisy single engine Otter.
They eventually made their way 23 miles south of The Pas and lived with no phone, no plumbing, but lots of adventures. Trying to recreate a southern garden ensued and when Ellie lost most of her chickens one year to a mangy wolf, she replenished the larder with a moose she shot and anything that John trapped, she cooked. Muskrats and onions, lynx stew and beaver were all on the menu at least once.
For a number of years, Ellie and John operated a Fly In Fishing Lodge on Nueltin Lake on the Manitoba/Nunavut border. It was her favourite place on earth and she became known for her stellar hospitality, homestyle grub and famous butter tarts.
They moved to Cranberry Portage when John retired from Resources and got a registered trapline north. Living in a log cabin they built on Lake Athapap, Ellie commuted to Flin Flon and returned to her career at the Royal Bank until she retired in 1997. She worked the wild rice harvest on Wabishkok Lake and was involved in the community, volunteering for the local ambulance and the hockey rink canteen. Always up for a new experience she did many canoe trips and was not deterred by the labor of lots of portages, big waves, and white water. John and Ellie travelled on the East coast including a trip up the Labrador coast in a supply ship to Nain and a couple of long drives up the Alaska Highway. She was quick to pull out her passport and hop a plane and journeyed to the UK a number of times on genealogical trips. No matter how far she travelled she always encountered someone she knew.
In later years when it was time to slow down, they returned to Grandview enjoying extended family and the view of Baldy Mountain. You knew it was your birthday when you received a cheery phone call from Auntie Ellie. She was still cross country skiing up until a few years ago and remained a CBC addict; in her final day she had to have ear buds in the hospital so she wouldn’t miss her programs.
Ellen will be forever loved and missed by her children and chosen family of whom there were many. She leaves Mary-Ellen Donald and along with their father, Bob Johnson, their sons, Jordan Johnson and her great-grandson Aaron Donald, Jordan’s wife Amanda and their children, Remi and Loxley; Cabel Johnson (Carlin Knittle) and their children, Ridley and Lennon; Ellen’s son Leo Donald and his children, Catherine McClintock (Bob Kolody) Ava and Ben; Mathew Scott (Hannah) Henry and Charlie. Predeceased by Leo’s son Ragnar Donald in 2024. Ellen’s daughter Sue Landen (Ian) and their family, Kirsten Thompson (Justin) Jaycee and Jaxson and Willow Padbury (Brad) and Ellie’s youngest great-grandchild Brie.
Mother’s wishes were to be cremated and to join her husband John at the Grandview cemetery.
Thank you to the amazing health care team at Grandview District Hospital for their care of Mum as she made her journey.
Ellen participated in every single Terry Fox Run since it started so, please think of her stamina if you pledge the event this September.
As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 11, 2026