Ellen was born in Ohio, but the family moved to Maryland when she was four.

She attended Parkway Elementary School in Frederick, MD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She  skipped her senior year at Frederick High School and entered 

the University of California at Berkeley at the age of 17.

While enrolled at Berkeley she sang in the Treble Clef Society

and Madrigal Group but otherwise stuck to her studies, and 

graduated with a B.A. in chemistry.  She met her husband,

a Vietnam war era veteran who was studying to be a child

psychologist, while working on a masters in chemical physics 

at the University of Oregon.  They were married in Berkeley.

 

 

 

 

After her husband died in an accident, she raised her daughter

as a single mom while going to school and working.  She ran

for Congress in 1992, the "Year of the Woman," then finished

her research and was awarded the Ph.D. in physical chemistry 

from Purdue University.  She has worked both as a project engineer

and as a college instructor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She retired to New Mexico in 2004 and became active in the 

Democratic Party, serving as chair of the Democratic Party of

Otero county 2007-2009 and running for state representative

and now state senator.