Vernon Alonzo Ellis, 78, Paola, died Monday, Nov. 6, 2000, in Shawnee Mission Medical Center.

He was born July 26, 1922, on the family homestead two miles west of Beagle. He was the son of Clark and Jessie Elizabeth Lockhart Ellis. He attended Fairview School and then attended Parker Rural High School for three years. He completed his high school education at Osawatomie High School, graduating in 1939.

He served his country in the U. S. Army prior to and during World War II. He enlisted in the National Guard Oct. 15, 1938, and entered active service in December 1940. He was a staff sergeant and served with the 127th Field Artillery Battalion in the Central European Theater, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and the Ardennes. He was discharged at Fort Leavenworth Aug. 10, 1945.

On Aug. 1, 1942, he and Erma Catherine "Kay" Singer were married in Escondido, Calif. They became the parents of two children.

In 1949 they moved from California to South Carolina and then moved from South Carolina to Beagle in 1951. They owned and operated a grocery store in Beagle.

They moved to the farm where he was born in 1956 where they lived until moving to Greeley. They owned and operated a grocery store in Greeley from 1962 until 1973. They moved to Osawatomie in 1973 where they lived until moving to a farm in the Lane community. After the death of his wife in 1991, he moved back to Osawatomie and then to Paola.

Mr. Ellis then worked for Taylor Forge Engineered Systems in Paola and BEHM Co. in Osawatomie as a maintenance coordinator. He retired in 1986.

He was a member of Greeley Memorial Post No. 6887 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and of the Osawatomie Chapter of Kansas Oldtime Fiddlers and Pickers Association