Martha Ann Poarch Brown Ellis (June 20, 1932-Jan 7, 2022)
Tribute to a life well lived and loved. Ann was born June 20, 1932, the 7th child out of 8 to be born and raised by Everette Lee Poarch and Ida Edrie Rosson of Birmingham, AL. While Ann would vehemently deny it, she was an “it” girl. A Majorette, glamorous high twirling baton girl, extremely popular with the boys and the girls, plus she kept good grades and a good relationship with her parents. After a whirlwind romance, Ann married former West End football star, and U of A hopeful, Alvin Eugene “Buck” Brown Jan. 1953. They settled in Center Point/Huffman area and raised 3 children until his death Sept. 1991. Though many wives during that era were busy raising kids and taking care of domestic duties, in addition to those tasks, Ann retained an impressive career trajectory. She worked for Hayes Aircraft until her job position was eliminated. At which point, many people may remember her as the school crossing guard for Smith elementary. They also may remember growing up with her teaching their Sunday school at Huffman Baptist for many, many years.
Upon Buck’s death, Ann was blessed to have found love a second time and on Nov. 1992, she married Charles Robert Ellis. They maintained a blissfully busy pace of life full of activities, including building a lake house and establishing a church in Lincoln, AL. Eventually, they moved to Trussville to be closer to family, where they enjoyed a slower pace and joined Trussville Baptist. They were by each other’s side until his death Oct. 2020.
In 2011 Ann, along with her daughter Marcia, and grand-daughter Aubrey, fulfilled a life-long dream to journey to the Holy Land. While there, she was baptized in the River Jordan, visited the Temple Mount in Old Jerusalem, hiked the ancient ruins of Petra in Jordan and even made a trek via camel. A perfect descriptor for her would be simply that Ann had a great zest for life. She was an early riser (4am or 5am), and she stayed up rather late (10pm). She was always interested in learning a new craft or hobby and she liked to play various games. She was a member of her Bridge Club since forever, a member of the Birmingham Doll Club and she enjoyed collecting Barbies in particular, she was part of the church choir, she enjoyed ceramics, sewing, playing dominoes, card games, or board games, and she loved to go antiquing.
On Jan 7, 2022 Ann Brown Ellis left this plane to shine her light where the angels dwell, creating an incurable darkness here severely lacking the blend of her kind of special that we miss so dearly. It’s been three years and not a day goes by that we don’t think, “If only I could ask Ann this, or visit with Ann for a quick game of that”; or just have a nice conversation with some Grandmotherly advice or wisdom which she was never shy to hand out, even if you weren’t related.
Martha Ann is survived by:
1 Brother: Everette Poarch Jr;
3 Children (and their Spouses): Marcia Moore, Russ Brown (& Lucy), Ken Brown (& Debbie);
8 Grand-Children (and their Spouses): Aubrey Manning, Wayne Jones, Robyn Hoglan, Jason Brown, Meagan Brown, Jessica Figueroa, Brandon Brown, Kristen Hunter;
Many Great-Grand-Children;
And many more “children” and friends that attached themselves to her like a Velcro mom they could call whenever in need, or in doubt to help them find the way.
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