Mary Jane Ellis

MOUNT HOREB - Mary Jane Ellis, age 69, of Mount Horeb, passed away with her loving husband by her side on Friday, November 8, 2024, at Azura Memory Care in Stoughton from Alzheimer’s disease. She was born on April 18, 1955, in Ontario, California, in the San Bernardino Valley to Lillian and Robert McCaffery. Mary Jane grew up in Watts in South Central Los Angeles, graduated high school, and left the densely packed streets of home for good when she turned 18.

In 1973, she ventured with a friend to Colorado, where they lived in a tepee in Basalt and cleaned hotel rooms in Aspen. Eventually, she found a new family of friends and they banded together as a community to support each other in the small mountain town of Phippsburg outside of Steamboat Springs. She worked in Oak Creek and Steamboat as a bartender, construction laborer, restaurant cook, and hotel maid. She also worked in Utah and Wyoming as a juggie on a seismic crew (oil exploration) and camp cook on the first heli-portable seismic crew mapping the substrata geologic formations in the inaccessible areas of Wyoming.

In 1981, she was cooking one sunny Colorado morn in Mary Jane’s Kitchen (not named for her), when a young man came sauntering in for breakfast and became her tall, dark, and handsome forever more.  They moved to Steamboat Springs, bought a house together, and she was united in marriage to Jim on October 29, 1988.  Mary Jane was the kitchen manager for the Holiday Inn of Steamboat. She cooked breakfast in the mornings, oversaw the hotel restaurant food service, and was known for her amazing buffet spread that the hotel restaurant served on the holidays.

Mary Jane and Jim left Steamboat in 1990 and found a home in Mount Horeb. She opened The Craft Haus of Mount Horeb in the spring of 1994 in the house on the corner of Fourth and Main. With 150 consignment crafters and her own stained-glass creations, she soon built a bustling gift store known for quality work and her warm, welcoming charm. She had a stained-glass workshop in the kitchen of that old house where she fashioned her creations to sell in the store. She heard it said that her stained-glass nativity sets are a treasured heirloom to this day.

She moved the store in 1998 to the old gas station at the corner of Third and Main and renamed it Moonhill Mercantile. She traveled to gift shows around the country in order to curate her own merchandise lines to sell in the store. In 2015, she was surprised and excited to win first place in Madison Magazine's “Best of the Burbs” contest in the Gifts/Home Decor category. In the same year, she moved the store for the last time to its downtown location on Main and First. The store closed in 2022 after 28 wonderful years doing business on the Trollway thanks to the devoted support of the community.

Mary Jane was a dedicated member of the Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce. She served on its board and as its secretary for many years. She was the chairperson for the retail, Art Fair, and Fall Fest committees. She was named Chamber Person of the Year for her talents and hard work such as using her cooking skills to prepare the food for the annual volunteer appreciation luncheon. For many years, she sponsored the Pumpkin on Parade contest during Fall Fest as a way to foster and display the creativity of the kids to the village.

Mary Jane enjoyed expressing her creativity through her stained-glass making skills, sewing, and decorating her store. She taught stained-glass for Madison College at the Mount Horeb High School. Mary Jane was a skilled cook and showed her love to our family by cooking delicious holiday meals. She enjoyed gardening and canning her harvest in the fall. She was known for her dilly beans and mouthwatering salsa. Mary Jane was a hippie rocker from way back in the day. She loved nothing more than going to local rock and roll shows and dancing at the many street festivals in Madison.

Mary Jane loved the outdoors both in Colorado and Wisconsin. She enjoyed camping, hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing. But her biggest love was downhill skiing, whether it was Buddy’s Run on Mount Warner or down Voyagers Highway at Indianhead. The pandemic turned out to be a blessing. With the store closed and finally finding time on her hands, she loved nothing more than taking long rides beside her beloved husband in her red Ranger and watching the Wisconsin countryside roll by.

Mary Jane leaves behind her devoted husband of 36 years, James; sisters-in-law, Deb Ellis (Hal Strelnick), Mary Kay Ellis (Toby Peters) and Betty Jane (Jay) Francis; and nieces and nephews, John and Mia Ellis, Emma, Ellie, Fletcher and Henry Metz, and Jaymee, Cory and James Francis.

We will forever miss her generous spirit, the kindness of her soul, and her no-nonsense take charge attitude. But most of all, we miss the bright and cheery warmth of her smile that flowed from her lips like a ray of sunshine on a cool April morn.

The family wants to give heartfelt thanks to everyone at Azura Memory Care in Stoughton for their wonderful care and for making us feel at home these last years. We also extend a deep and abiding gratitude to her Agrace team for their tender care and to the beautiful angel they sent in the form of her nurse, Bernadette, to guide us on the final leg of our journey together.

A celebration of life will be held at GUNDERSON CAMACHO MOUNT HOREB FUNERAL AND CREMATION CARE, 500 N. Eighth St., Mount Horeb, at 12 noon on Saturday, December 14, 2024. Visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until the time of the service on Saturday. A luncheon will immediately follow.

Memorials may be made to the family. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Camacho Mount Horeb

Funeral & Cremation Care

500 N. Eighth St.

(608) 437-5077