December 24 Today in OPC History

Charles H. “Chuck” Ellis was born on Clark Island, Maine on Christmas Eve in the year 1917. The first time he left his beloved state of Maine was to attend Wheaton College. There he was asked to be on the debate team, in part because of his Maine accent. His pitching for the college baseball team led to a tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals. The location and movement of his fastball were good enough that he was offered a contract, but when he told the general manager that he would need to take Sundays off to honor the Lord’s Day, he was unceremoniously escorted from the office, without a contract in hand.

Instead Chuck went to Westminster Seminary to pursue the ministry. Seven-eighths of his class were Wheaton students who had migrated en masse from Chicago to Philadelphia. Among them were LeRoy Oliver, Edmund Clowney and Edwards Elliott. He met Norma Remsen while in seminary and they were married on December 26, 1941. The big holidays in his life were spread over a mere three days. Chuck and Norma had seven children.

Chuck began his ministry as stated supply in West Collingswood, New Jersey and later pastored the church in East Orange, NJ. He was a trustee for Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, and he maintained a commitment to the Chapel for many years.

The bulk of his ministry (1955-1979) was serving Knox Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, then part of the Philadelphia presbytery. In a day when regional home missionaries were scarce, he helped to start Grace Church (Vienna, VA) to the south, where his good friend Larry Vail became the organizing pastor. Then he assisted in the planting of Covenant Church (Burtonsville, MD) to the north. Later he helped plant a church in Rockville, to the northwest. These efforts paved the way for the birthing of the Mid-Atlantic Presbytery, as these churches were instrumental in starting others.

After his years at Knox he took a smaller church, Lakeview OPC, in Rockport, Maine, near his birthplace. The mid-coast region of Maine became an Orthodox Presbyterian vacation spot. Two hundred yards up the coast from their bay side home, John and Ada Galbraith had a cottage.

Following his retirement, Chuck and Norma stayed in their Owls Head home, and spent several months each year – mostly in the winter time – assisting churches from Massachusetts to Florida that were either just starting, were between pastors, or had challenges for which an experienced pastor was best suited. Even into their 70s, Chuck and Norma would respond to the calls for assistance. What a great example of well-spent retirement years! On one such occasion, they served in a little mission work in Lenoir, NC. His son, who was chairman of the Home Missions Committee of the Mid-Atlantic Presbytery, oversaw Chuck’s work there. His son remembers driving to North Carolina to check in on the new short-term minister and his wife, taking them out to dinner and inquiring about their work, and the stability of their marriage and home life.

Chuck Ellis was known across the denomination as one who was unfailingly gracious and kind in greeting others. He passed into glory on February 21, 2003.

Picture: Chuck, Norma and Raymond Ellis

(Editor's note: today’s guest contributor is the aforementioned Home Missions Committee chairman, the Rev. Richard N. Ellis.)