A son's memories
By Krista Allen
Special to the Times
COVE, Ariz., Sept. 15, 2011
Lollipops were tossed onto his casket on Sept. 3 here at the Ellison family plot.
"One of his favorite food was lollipops," his son, Don Ellison Jr., said. "He was always eating lollipops."
The G.I. generation retiree, born in 1912, was a "very good individual" who incorporated and ministered his own church for 51 years.
When the U.S. enacted the stock reduction program in the 1930s, Ellison began work on the railroad outside of the reservation.
In the 1940s, he worked in different uranium mine shafts including the ones here.
He was the oldest uranium mine survivor who lived to be 99, but there are a number of survivors alive today.
"He enjoyed working," his son said. "That's what he said. He really enjoyed working at the mine."
In the early 1950s, Ellison began a job storing munitions at Fort Wingate Army Depot before he joined the Tribal Work Experience Program that helped him find a job as a foreman in the community.
His son said in spite of the program his father was a bull rider before the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association came about.
"That time, they really didn't have professional Navajo riders, but they had rodeos back then," his son said.
One day while rodeoing in Lukachukai, Ariz., Ellison met a woman named Mary Marie who attracted him. Together they had children. Today the Ellison family is great in size.
"We all get together every week on Sundays," his son said. "We have birthday parties every week on Sundays, even if it's not a birthday, we always find an excuse to have a party."
And that's what they did on July 12 to mark his birthday. His family had a party for him with more than 400 invited guests.
His son said his father practiced a healthy lifestyle since his father had respiratory mishaps caused by uranium exposure.
Ellison affiliated with the national campaign Just Move It to enrich his lifestyle by exercising.
"He loved Just Move It," his son said. "He was really committed to exercising."
Whether it was elastic band workouts or herding his sheep, "he exercised a lot," his son said. "He was really religious about it."
But that did not impede him from fry bread, ice cream, mutton stew, and P90x protein shakes.
"He really enjoyed P90x," his son said as he told a story of how his father always portrayed a flexing Arnold Schwarzenegger during the P90x commercials.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger, eat your heart out," his father used to say while flexing in front of the TV.
Even so, his son said that Johnny Carson of the "Tonight Show" was his father's favorite television host.
"He use to sit there and watch the news, then when Johnny Carson comes up, he sits there and goes, 'Yay Johnny,'" his son said. "He used to love watching that."
"He'll wait up for the one hour show, and he'll sit there and laugh," he added. "I don't know why, but he goes, 'Yay Johnny.' I guess he was thinking they were saying, 'Yay Johnny!'"
Ellison's youngest said that among priceless memories include taking him to a World Wrestling Entertainment event in Phoenix.
"When we took him to WWE, they were beating up Hulk Hogan," the youngest son said. "He wanted to help him. We kept telling him he was OK.
"He thought that Hulk Hogan was dead because they took him out on a stretcher," he continued. "He jumped out of his seat and kept saying, 'Is he OK?'"
In honor of his father, Don Jr. accentuated the importance of caring for the elderly.
"I've seen elderly staying by themselves for about a week, sometimes two or three weeks," his son said. "I've seen them stuck with the sheep and livestock until the family comes back."
"You're only going to have a mom, a dad, a grandma, and a grandpa only one time," he urged. "I encourage all people to take care of them."
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