John D. Ellis 

July 19, 1946

January 6, 2022 

John D. Ellis passed away   on January 6, 2022 at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Temple, with his daughter, Gigi Ellis holding his hand and his niece Paula Knight and her daughter by his side. 

John was preceded in death by his second wife Linda Ellis whom he married in 1979 and remained married for 40 years until her passing and by his first wife Illene Nichols, nee Bailes, the mother of his children. 

John was born in Texas on July 19, 1946 but moved to California with his family as a child, returning to Texas upon his retirement and settling in Salado, where he could often be seen wearing his cowboy hat and playing guitar at local events and traveling the country with guitar shows with his daughter Gigi and his Ellis Guitars. John loved his friends, music, guitars, and Texas and appreciated and enjoyed them all to the end. 

Per his wishes he was cremated and his ashes along with the ashes of his wife Linda, will be placed in an underwater inurnment to create a memorial reef in warm waters. A local memorial will be held for friends and family in the summer.