Obituary of Ellen Drake

Ellen Drake, age 74, passed away on Monday, November 16, 2009 at the Scott County Hospital in Scott City, Kansas. She was born on June 2, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Ansel and Dorothy H. Lantz Drake. In 1941, she moved to Scott City with her family where she attended school and graduated from SCHS in 1953. She graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor's Degree in Cultural Anthropology in 1957, and received her Master of Science Degree in Wildlife Biology from Utah State University in 1969. Miss Drake traveled the world for many years, and lived in India, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and Botswana. She returned to Scott City in 2006 moving from Botswana, Africa. Ellen was a free spirit, biologist, artist, freelance journalist, researcher and photographer. Her many adventures included work as a research assistant with Jane Goodall's wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, and as a journalist for the Ethiopian Tourist Organization in Ethiopia. She authored two published books, Cats in the Cosmos and A Book of Baobabs. Ellen was an advocate for civil rights and environmental conservation. While she was not, by nature, a club joiner, over the course of her life she held membership in the NAACP; CORE; the Free Mind Forum at Utah State University; NOW; the Wilderness Society; the Nature Conservancy; the Sierra Club; the Bombay Natural History Society; Friends of the Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas; the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society; the Herpetologists' League; and others. Survivors Include her One Nephew â Jeffry Drake of Fairbanks, Alaska, Two Niece's - Susan Duff of Scott City, Kansas, Lysa Vattimo of Aloha, Oregon, One Great Niece - Michelle Drake of Beaverton, Oregon, Six Great Nephews - Dakota Duff of Prairie Village, Kansas, Jordan Duff of Garden City, Kansas, Dustin Duff of Pittsburg, Kansas, Gentry Duff of Scott City, Kansas, Shiloh Duff of Scott City, Kansas, Josiah Aiken-Drake of Fairbanks, Alaska. She was preceded in death by her Parents, One Brother â Lance Drake and One Sister â Celia Drake. A memorial service will be held at a later date Inurnment will be held in the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas.