Ellen was born in Ohio but the family moved to Maryland when she was four. She grew up in the town of Frederick, “dropped out” of high school and entered UC Berkeley at the age of 17. While enrolled at Berkeley she sang in the Treble Clef Society and Madrigal Group but otherwise stuck to her studies, and graduated with a B.A. in chemistry. She met her husband, a Vietnam war era veteran who was studying to be a child psychologist, while working on a masters in chemical physics at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

After her husband died in an accident, she raised her daughter as a single mom while going to school and working. She was awarded the Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Purdue University and has worked both as a project engineer and as a college instructor. She retired to New Mexico in 2004, and now serves as chair of the Democratic Party of Otero County, as a member of the DPNM Rules committee, and as secretary of the South Sacramento Water Group. As the 2006 candidate for state representative in NM House District 59, she received 41% of the vote and is focused on winning the seat in 2008.