Obituary for Ellen Kodesh

Ellen Marie Kodesh

January 20, 2018

The angels rejoiced. Heaven gained a saint. On January 20, 2018, Ellen Marie Kodesh passed away after a short hospital stay in Odessa, Texas. She lived a very blessed 92 years.

Ellen was born in Buhl, Idaho on a farm with her twin sister, Libby. Along with her other sister Sonja, they helped their parents do farm work. They milked the cows, dug potatoes, pulled weeds, and put up hay among many other chores that was usually done by boys and men. During the Depression, they worked together just to have something to eat.

She was 16 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed, and after high school graduation she spent time in California working in factories to help the war effort. She was truly a “Rosy the Rivetor.”

Ellen caught the eye of Charles Kodesh while he was working on a grain threshing crew in southern Idaho. They were married and she moved to Oklahoma. Together they raised six children on the Kodesh Farm in rural Red Rock, Oklahoma. She taught her children to milk cows (the older children that is) and the younger ones helped with the other chores. She supported her children and loved them with all her heart. Ellen encouraged her children to be all they could be.

After Charles passed away in 1978, she stayed on the farm a few more years until moving to Idaho to care for her mother. Ellen stayed in the Twin Falls area of Idaho after her mother passed away as she had a lot of family and friends there. She made numerous long trips to visit her children and grandchildren in Oklahoma.

She was proud of her Czechoslovakian heritage as she could talk and write in Czech. She was active in several Czech clubs and organizations in Idaho and was always very active in taking care of the “older”people. She always cared for others before herself.

Ellen lived on her own until 2010 when she had health problems and moved to Odessa, Texas to live with her daughter, Teri. Her non-stop upbeat attitude and quick smile gained her much affection from many people in her new community. Days before her passing, she suffered a severe stroke and was paralyzed. Even though she could not speak, she gave plenty of smiles and winks.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and both sisters.

Ellen is survived by her daughter Carla Fellers and husband Phill of Stillwater, OK; son John Kodesh of Marland, OK; son Tony Kodesh and wife Connie of Red Rock, OK; daughter Teri Wilcox and husband Conard of Odessa, TX; son Jim Kodesh and wife Jena of Red Rock, OK; son Duke Kodesh of Odessa, TX; also, 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Those wishing to honor Ellen by giving a memorial gift may make a donation to Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, 445 N. Fairview, Ponca City, OK 74601

Source: Trout Funeral Home