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H. 3554

STATUS INFORMATION

Concurrent Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Agnew and Gambrell
Document Path: l:\council\bills\rm\1077ac07.doc

Introduced in the House on February 21, 2007
Introduced in the Senate on February 21, 2007
Adopted by the General Assembly on February 21, 2007

Summary: Rodney Stevenson Ellis, Jr.

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   2/21/2007  House   Introduced, adopted, sent to Senate HJ-6
   2/21/2007  Senate  Introduced, adopted, returned with concurrence SJ-19

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

2/21/2007

TO EXTEND CONGRATULATIONS TO MR. RODDEY STEVENSON ELLIS, JR., UPON THE OCCASION OF HIS EIGHTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY AND WISH HIM GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN YEARS TO COME.

Whereas, the members of the General Assembly are delighted to learn that Mr. Roddey Stevenson Ellis, Jr., of Due West, is celebrating eighty-five years of a very full, loving, and productive life; and

Whereas, Mr. Ellis, born March 3, 1922, to the late Roddey and Hazzie Betts Ellis, grew up in Due West and attended public schools in that town, later graduating from Erskine College; and

Whereas, while attending Erskine College, he pursued an early interest in aviation by taking flying lessons, which were to stand him in good stead in days ahead; and

Whereas, immediately after finishing college, Mr. Ellis volunteered for military service and joined the U.S. Army Air Corp (later the U.S. Air Force), at the sacrifice of participating in his college graduation ceremony; and

Whereas, after earning his wings as an aviation cadet, he joined the 513 Fighter Pilot Squadron and fought in support of the war effort in the World War II European Theater, for which service, including providing air cover over the beaches for the "D Day" Normandy invasion, he was awarded numerous air medals and other commendations; and

Whereas, his most treasured military commendation came from the pen of General George Patton in the form of a telegraph to the 513 reading, "best...air support in the U.S. Army Air Corp. Patton";

Whereas, upon completing his European tour of duty, Roddey Stevenson Ellis, Jr., returned to the United States and worked as a test pilot out of Dover Air Force Base, meeting his future wife, physicist Mary Frances Reid, during this time; and

Whereas, after they were married and he was in the process of receiving promotion to major, they heeded the call of their hearts and returned to live at Due West, where he had deep roots and she had spent her college years; and

Whereas, Mr. Ellis there joined his father at the Due West Oil Mill, Inc., which venture was the beginning of prosperity and expansion in business for Mr. Ellis, including the purchase of Due West Motor Lines and continued operation of an ice production plant started by his father in the early 1920s; and

Whereas, during this period he purchased a tract of the original land grant on Park Creek given in 1777 to his forefather Joseph Ellis, the younger Ellis thereby reestablishing his ties to family land; and

Whereas, for its service to agriculture in Due West, the Roddey Ellis family was honored in 1980 as Lion's Club Farm Family of the Year for their conservation efforts in "turning red hills and gullies into seas of green grass"; and

Whereas, having lost his first wife as the result of a tragic accident in 2003, Mr. Ellis started a new chapter in his life in marrying Armena Johnson, God having blessed him with two good wives, as he gratefully attests; and

Whereas, a lifetime member of Due West Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Roddey Ellis has served on his church's deacon and elder boards, as well as on various denominational synod and presbytery committees, and, as a civic-minded man who gives freely of his time to county and community service, he has been, among other things, a director of the Commercial Bank since 1972; and

Whereas, with his wife, Armena, to this day he sets all who know him an example of a prolific, creative, well-lived life through interested involvement with his business, his church, his farm, the Abbeville Historical Society, and other worthy endeavors. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, extend congratulations to Mr. Roddey Stevenson Ellis, Jr., upon the occasion of his eighty-fifth birthday and wish him good health and happiness in years to come.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Mr. Roddey Stevenson Ellis, Jr.

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