Obituary for Ellen Margret Kitchen Mrs. Ellen Margret Kitchen passed away in Yuba City on September 14, 2018, at the age of 85. Ellen was born on July 6, 1933, at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in Manhattan, New York, to Ernest and Margret Friesendorf. Her parents were from Germany and came to the United States through Ellis Island in 1925.
As an only child, Ellen grew up in New York City, where her parents worked various jobs before moving to Mt. Tremper, in upstate New York, when she was eight to operate a boarding house. They moved back to the New York area three years later where Ellen attended several schools before graduating from Morristown High School in New Jersey in 1951.
Ellen applied and was accepted at the Syracuse University School of Nursing. She graduated with a B.S. degree in Nursing in December 1955. Afterwards, she worked at a Morristown Hospital for a year.
Then she fulfilled her dream to come to California when she saw an ad in a Nursing Journal for a Public Health Nurse with the Butte County Health Department in Oroville. She was accepted for the job sight unseen. In March 1957, she met James Kitchen on a blind date.
Three months later on June 11, they were married in Oroville. James went on to attend UC Berkeley and Ellen followed. In November 1960, they had their first son Stuart.
In 1961 after James’s graduation, they moved to Yuba City, where James accepted a job at the Department of Transportation in Marysville. Their second son, Ross, was born in September 1962 and Ellen decided to stay home to raise her family. In July 1969, she went back to work with the Sutter-Yuba Health Department as a Public Health Nurse and began a 20-year career with the Department.
After retiring in 1989, James and Ellen enjoyed traveling all over the United States and Europe. They would spend a month at a time visiting Switzerland, England and Germany. Some of Ellen’s favorite pastimes included crossword puzzles and reading mystery and spy novels.
In later years, she enjoyed dollhouse miniatures, watching British comedies and dramas and spending time with her grandchildren. The family would like to thank Summerfield Care Facility and The Fountains for everything they did to make Ellen comfortable during her final years. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, James Kitchen; sons, Stuart Kitchen (Angela) of Yuba City and Ross Kitchen (Jill) of Roseville; grandchildren, Audrey, Emily, Matthew, and Garrett Kitchen; and two nieces, Ann Enright (Jack) of Concord and Susan Mazanek (Len) of Chicago.
Ellen is preceded in death by her parents, Ernest and Margret Friesendorf; brother-in-law, Warren Kitchen; and sisters-in-law, Nancy Kitchen and Vivian Kitchen. Per Ellen’s request, there will be no memorial service To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Ellen Margret Kitchen please visit our Sympathy Store.
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