Place a Stone

In loving memory

Margaret Ellis

1929 – 2026

Our grandmother. A teacher, a keeper of letters, and the last word on any argument.

Read their story ↓Light a candle

Their story

Life

Born in Leeds in 1929, she taught primary school for forty-one years and kept every letter anyone ever sent her, in shoeboxes, by year.

Life moments

Along the way

  1. 1929

    Born in Leeds

  2. 1953

    First classroom

    She stayed in teaching until the day she retired.

  3. 1961 or 1962

    Met Thomas

    Nobody in the family agrees which.

  4. 1994

    Retired, and did not slow down

In their words

People remember

I was eight and could not read. She sat with me every lunchtime for a term and never once made it feel like a punishment.
Peter Almondformer pupil
The shoeboxes. One per year, going back to 1951, every letter anyone ever sent her. We found them the week after and none of us could throw a single one away.
Ruthdaughter

The everyday things

What they loved

  • A red penA sentence at the bottom, never a grade
  • Sunday walks
  • “You’re not bad at it. You’re rushing.”

Remember them today

Leave a quiet sign that you were here, that you thought of them, and that the story is still being carried.

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