Ellen Beth Michelis Trikha was born on February 27, 1940 in Syracuse, New York to Stanley W. and Helen Ripple Michaelis.

After graduating with a BA degree in Elementary Education from College of St. Rose, Albany New York in 1961, Ellen enjoyed teaching in the schools in Syracuse, Kaiserslautern Army Base in Germany, the Boston area, and then, after moving to Seattle area in 1969, in Renton School District for a total of 32 years of teaching. She loved to see the growth in her students and was proud to be a teacher. She took early retirement in 1993.

Ellen is survived by her husband, Dr. Arun K Trikha, whom she married in 1969 at the MIT Chapel in Cambridge, MA, just before moving to Seattle area. They made Bellevue, WA, their home for 52 years.

She is also survived by 2 sisters, Barbara Di Marino and Dorothy Brown, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews, who adore her. Her only brother John predeceased her.

Ellen enjoyed doing volunteer work of various types. She served as the coordinator for the Interstitial Cystitis Association, Greater Seattle area, for many years. She was also active in a St Thomas Episcopal Church group in making sandwiches to be given to those in need. Together with her husband, Ellen had the pleasure of traveling all over the world. Later in life, her various health issues often made this hard to do, but she was a trooper enjoying life to the full in spite of those issues.

Ellen loved cats and enjoyed having them as pets. She enjoyed hiking the beautiful mountain trails, specially admiring the meadowlands with wild flowers. She collected beautiful stones and pictures to surround herself with the things of natural beauty. She was fascinated with birds and made sure that the bird feeder and the hummingbird feeder on the deck were always clean and full of food. And she loved growing flowers around the house and visiting flower gardens.

Everyone loved Ellen’s gentle nature and pleasant smile. She was always looking inward to see how she can continue to be a better and better person so that she can make other people happier.

Unfortunately, while many of her heart-related issues improved with medical care, one of those issues caused her to have a cardiac arrest, from which she did not recover.