MaryElla (George) English, passed away peacefully at home March 22, 2026 with her family by her side.

MaryElla was born on July 31, 1927, the third of 13 children of George George and Catherine Elizabeth Sittner George. She spent her entire life in Montrose, Colorado, where she attended Oak Grove Elementary School and graduated from Montrose County High School in 1945.

While growing up MaryElla worked on the family farm along side her father and older brother, Harold. She worked the fields with a team of horses before the family had a tractor. She often joked that she “should have been a boy!”

MaryElla married Tony English in 1946 and together they farmed in Montrose and raised their family. They enjoyed farming together for next 41 years until Tony passed unexpectedly on February 26, 1987, and MaryElla remained on the farm for the next 26 years managing its operations.

MaryElla enjoyed all types of sports. She played on the Co-op women’s softball team in the sixties and seventies where she was the team catcher. She made many life long friendships. She also enjoyed over 40 years of bowling on the local women’s bowling league where she also made many friends and was an inspiration to many of the girls who were much younger than her. She continued to bowl until she was over 98 years old.

In 2013 she sold her farm and moved to town where she enjoyed her new home. Her new neighbors looked after her and she considered many of them like family.

Mary Ella is survived by her three children: Bill (Kathy) English of Delta; Kathy (Ron) Holman of Mesa, AZ; and Chuck English of Montrose. Also surviving are her four grandchildren, Jon English, Lynn English, Kendra Holman and Dustin Holman and six great-grandchildren: Hailey McWhirter, Natalie McWhirter, Peyton Fellet, Landon Fellet, Jessalyn English, and Katie Holman. Surviving siblings are Herb George of Montrose, Dorothy Story of Aztec, New Mexico, Shirley Toothman of West Coving, California, Alice Crane of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Jeanette Ammons of Goodyear, Arizona. She was preceded in death by both her parents and brothers and sisters: Harold George, Irene Schleich, Norma Gottfried, Kay Sanderson, John George, William George and baby MaryLou George.

Graveside Service was held on Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 10:00 am at Cedar Cemetery.