After a long and happy life, Ellen passed
away in Cariboo Memorial Hospital, Williams
Lake, B.C. In her final days, she was
surrounded by loving family. Ellen was predeceased
by her husband Jack in 2009, son
Gary in 2016, and grandson Tad in 2015,
her brother “Bud” Steele, in 2006, and sister
Margaret Stoll in 2001. Ellen is survived by
daughters Gayle, Becky (Larry), Lynn “elle”
(Sherman), son Deb (Joan), and daughter-inlaw
Sharlene. Also left to mourn her passing
are grandchildren Bryon Lozier (Mandi),
Monte Lozier; Shoshone Sky (Carlie); Nik
Stilwell (Paula), Mynde Stilwell; Kyle
Lozier (Faren), Reid Lozier (Shelby); 13
great-grandchildren, Gus, Clay and Steele
Lozier, Ridge and Cedar Stewart; Louis and
Bowdrie Lozier; Arrow Sky; Ty and Garrett
Stilwell, Trevor Provencial; Sage Stilwell;
Norah Lozier and many extended family
members and friends.
Ellen and Jack were both fourth generation
from original Wyoming pioneers of the
late 1800s who settled in the Upper Green River Valley of western Wyoming. Ellen’s parents
were Milford Byron (Mike) Steele and Hannah Ellen Allen (Queen) Steele. Milford’s
parents were Edward Phoebus and Emma Belle (Hoff) Steele. They settled on the East Fork,
before what is now Boulder was established in the mid 1890s, along with Emma’s mother
and father, Henry and Jane Nottingham Hoff, and Emma’s two brothers, Sam and Harry.
They were one of the first six families who settled in the area during that time.
Ellen was born in Rock Springs and grew up on her parents’ ranch along the New Fork
River northwest of Pinedale, with her sister Margaret and brother “Bud”(Ralph Allen). She
attended Pinedale elementary and high schools, traveling the 4-1/2 miles to elementary
school in Pinedale in a kerosene-heated “school bus-sled” of about four or five neighboring
children during the cold Wyoming winters. Summers were spent at her grandparents’ East
Fork ranch on Silver Creek where her parents moved the household for haying season.
She graduated high school in 1942, and signed up for the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. To fill
the demand for nurses during World War II, the United States government provided free
education to nursing students between 1943 and 1948. Ellen began her training in Rock
Springs and finished up final training in Denver. In exchange for training, nurses were
contracted to serve in the military as a registered nurse during the war, but by the time she
graduated, the war was winding down, and the government canceled the service obligation.
Ellen worked as a student nurse in Rock Springs and Denver hospitals as part of her training.
After receiving her RN degree, she worked with Dr. McLeod at St. John’s Hospital in
Jackson Hole, with Dr. Knapp and Dr. Johnston at Pinedale’s Clinic, with Dr. Smith, DDS,
and served as Sublette County School Nurse during the 1960s. She married Walt Mahaffey,
Jr., in 1944. They had four children, divorcing in 1952. In 1954, Ellen married Jack Lozier;
Jack legally adopted the four children. They made their home in Cora at the Rahm Place
during which time their youngest son, Deb, was added to the family. In the late 1950s, they
bought a ranch in Boulder and moved the family of seven there. In October 1967, Jack and
Ellen immigrated to British Columbia with the last two of their five children. They ranched
for more than two decades in Soda Creek, B.C. When they sold the Anvil Ranch at Soda
Creek and retired in 1993, they again moved further north, just south of Quesnel, B.C. Jack
died in 2009 and Ellen moved to 150 Mile House to be closer to Deb and his family. The
last 18 months she lived at Seniors’ Village in Williams Lake. Her final three months she
was in Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.
She was known as Grandma Ellen to all the young people who came into her and Jack’s
lives throughout their ranching years, and leaves many lifelong and dear friends in both the
Cariboo and in Sublette County. Ellen loved music, learning to play piano at an early age
from her Aunt Phronie, and continued to play all her life. She had her Grandma Allen’s
square horizontal parlour piano professionally restored by an Allen cousin, and moved it
up to Soda Creek, providing decades of entertainment and enjoyment. The piano is still in
the family, back with her cousin’s family who restored it. Only during her final year did
she not play piano.
At her request, there will be no service. Ellen will be greatly missed, but never forgotten
by her family and many friends. The family will gather in late summer to spread ashes in
Soda Creek.
Sincere thanks from the family to all Ellen’s caregivers over the years, especially Dr. Van
der Merwe and the staff at Seniors’ Village and Cariboo Memorial Hospital. Ellen was a
loyal and constant contributor to Covenant House (www.covenant house.org), a nonprofit
providing housing and supportive services to youth facing homelessness, helping young
people transform their lives and put them on a path to independence, and to fighting human
trafficking. Share memories and condolences online through Ellen’s obituary at
https://www.wltribune.com/obituaries/ellen-marie-steele-lozier/.
Suddenly (our) ancestors stand behind us. “Be still,” they say. “Watch and listen. You
are the result of the love of thousands.”
