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George and Elizabeth Ellison are pictured at their home on Lands Creek.
Swain County resident and renowned naturalist and author George Robert Ellison II died on Sunday, Feb. 19 at the age of 81.
Many knew Ellison well for his weekly Nature Journal articles that appeared in Asheville Citizen-Times for the past 36 years, where he wrote about these mountains and their unique plants and wildlife. The articles would appear with beautiful watercolors painted by his wife, Elizabeth.
In 2019, he was awarded the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for “Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography,” which he co-authored with Janet McCue.
He told Smoky Mountain Times in June 2019 at a special celebration held at Fryemont Inn for the book with Kephart ancestors present that he felt a connection to Kephart and his work as a naturalist in the Smokies himself.
“I formed my connection with Kephart in the early 1970s. I have spent countless hours reading his work and studying his life, and even after all that time I still learned new things while working on this biography,” he said.
The Ellisons moved to Bryson City in the early 1970s. Earlier this year, the Ellisons placed their family property on Lands Creek into conservation.
His daughter, Quintin Ellison, announced his passing on Facebook Monday, with the following. She added he loved the people of Swain County and was happy living here.
“My father, George Robert Ellison II, died last night.
He was many things to many people: a teacher; a writer of prose and poetry; a naturalist and conservationist; a book author, columnist and award-winning biographer of Horace Kephart with co-author Janet McCue.
To us, his family, he was marvelous, loving and kind.
He was the husband of artist Elizabeth Ellison (née Moorefield) and father of George Robert Ellison III, Milissa Ellison Dewey and me, Quintin Ellison; grandfather of George Robert Ellison IV (George Ellison), Daisy Ellison, Jonathan Reed, Elizabeth Liz Reed, Will Murphree; and a great-grandfather.
My father had Parkinson's Disease. He died at age 81 from double pneumonia. These last couple of weeks, he received amazing care from Haywood Regional Hospital and Four Seasons Hospice.
George Robert Ellison II was born on Dec. 15, 1941, in Danville, Virginia, the son of Ruth and George Robert "GR" Ellison, who was killed in World War II.
My father played football for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After a career-ending knee injury, Dad turned his attention to academics, finishing his bachelor's at UNC and continuing at the University of South Carolina, where he received his master's degree.
He taught at Mississippi State University in Starkville. In the early 1970s, we moved to Bryson City.
He loved these mountains and its flora and fauna. He and my mother last year placed into conservation our family property on lower Lands Creek in Swain County.
What else can I say? He died with my brother, his namesake, by his side. He was not always an easy person, but always he was an interesting one, and we loved and cherished him, just as he did us, exactly how he was and how we are.
In lieu of a memorial service, my mother asks that you consider planting a wildflower garden and/or supporting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Family members will build a small cairn in his memory at home in Bryson City.”