Services for Lieutenant Colonel Ellsworth C. “Ells” Grev, 77, a retired Army officer and Vietnam War veteran, will be 11 a.m. on Monday morning, February 23, 2015, at the United Methodist Church in Fairmont, Minnesota. The church is located at 119 East Second Street.
Burial will be held in the Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont, with full military graveside honors by the Minnesota National Guard, the Martin County Veterans of Foreign War Post #1222 and the Lee C. Prentice American Legion Post #36. The cemetery is located at
Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont, located at 205 Albion Avenue, and will continue one hour prior to the time of service Monday at the church.
Lieutenant Colonel Grev died on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, at his home in Concord, North Carolina.
The Lakeview Funeral Home and Cremation Service of Fairmont is assisting the family with arrangements.
Ells was born on January 31, 1938, in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, and was raised in Ormsby and Fairmont. He graduated from Fairmont Public High School and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, from which he was commissioned as a Distinguished Military Graduate and an Army Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery. He also graduated from the Artillery School, the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the Defense Systems Management College.
During over 23 years of distinguished military service, Ells served numerous tours of duty in the United States and overseas in Vietnam, Greece and Germany. Ells retired from military service in 1985, after his last tour on the Army General Staff in the Pentagon. Colonel Grev’s numerous military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Secretary of Defense and Army Staff Badges, Army Commendation Medal and the Parachutist’s Badge.
Since retirement, Ells was a marketing manager for General Motors Corporation in the Washington, D.C. area, and a financial advisor.
He married the former Joyce Barney in Fairmont on September 7, 1958.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Joyce; son, Scott Grev of Fortville, Indiana; three grandchildren, Michael, Justin and Matthew; a brother, Clinton and his wife Alice of Crystal, Minnesota; a brother-in-law Lawrence Warriner of Granada, Minnesota and a sister-in-law Carol Grev of Madelia, Minnesota.
Ells was preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Evelyn; one brother, Eugene and son Steven.