George Ellison, long-time naturalist, author, Citizen Times columnist, dies at 81

ASHEVILLE – George Ellison, a naturalist, author, longtime columnist for the Asheville Citizen Times and by all accounts a Western North Carolina treasure, died Feb. 19, according to his daughter, Quintin Ellison.

George Ellison, 81, lived in Bryson City with his wife, Elizabeth Ellison. Their daughter said Ellison had Parkinson's disease. He died from double pneumonia after receiving “amazing care” from Haywood Regional Hospital and Four Seasons Hospice, Quintin said.

George Ellison was by any measure the voice of the WNC mountains for at least the past 36 years, penning the weekly “Nature Journal,” detailing the intricate ways of wildlife, especially his beloved birds, the passing of seasons in the mountains and the intricate wonders of nature.

These weekly columns were accompanied by Elizabeth’s stunning watercolor artwork.

George's Nature Journal:Late winter a great time to spot native orchid species

More:Nature Journal: In WNC, you're most likely to see the Appalachian cottontail rabbit

“He was tough,” Quintin Ellison said of her father. “But life had just been kind of been getting harder and he couldn't type, you know, he couldn’t work, and that's what he lived for ― it was writing. He was proud of his relationship with the Asheville Citizen Times. And that was a long relationship.”

Ellison was writing as long as he could, even through his health battles, Quintin said. His last "Nature Journal" column was published Feb. 4, about hepatica. "But to my way of thinking, year in and year out, hepatica is the earliest of the truly showy woodland wildflowers," he wrote.

From George:Nature Journal: Early-blooming hepaticas are harbingers of spring

George, the writer

Quintin Ellison, herself a former reporter with the Citizen Times, said she believed her father started working as a correspondent for the paper, writing and taking photos, even before the Nature Journal gig, starting back in the 1980s.

He was a prolific naturalist and author, who had also written six books. In 2019 Ellison was honored with the prestigious Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for co-authoring with Janet McCue, “Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography,” by the WNC Historical Association.

Thomas Wolfe award:George Ellison, Janet McCue win 2019 Thomas Wolfe award for Horace Kephart biography

It is a 500-page, seminal biography on one of the most famed naturalists in WNC history. It was edited by Frances Figart, creative services director for Great Smoky Mountains Association, which published the book.

The first Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award was presented in 1955 to Wilma Dykeman for her groundbreaking historical and environmental non-fiction work, “The French Broad."

When Ellison and McCue won the award in 2019, Ellison said it was one of his greatest achievements as a writer.

“It’s astonishing to get nominated. There were 21 regional nominees, and they got that down to five, I thought that was all right. Then lo and behold, they told me Janet and I were the winners," George Ellison told the Citizen Times in 2019. "I never even fantasized something like this might occur."

"The first time I heard George speak, he was talking about how Horace Kephart and George Masa contributed countless hours to the Smokies Nomenclature Committee, making sure the peaks and other features of the mountains were named in a way that paid homage to the traditions and peoples of the region," Figart told the Citizen Times.

"Ellison said, 'The study of geographic features helps us know where we are. And if we know where we are, we know better who we are.'

More:Word from the Smokies: Bryson City artist Elizabeth Ellison represents everything Smokies

"Perhaps more than any friend in my life, George knew who he was. He was dedicated to cultivating and sharing a sense of place in his chosen home. He was passionate about nature and wildlife in all its manifestations. And he was an able and balanced interpreter of the past. Through his poetry and our conversations, I saw him as present in each moment with a dauntless zest for life. He had a keen knowledge of the lives of birds and when they would arrive at his property on the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My husband John and I will never forget taking walks with him and Elizabeth among their beloved ferns, hearing the calls of water thrushes and winter wrens."

McCue was deeply saddened by the news of Ellison's death. But she recounted her special memories of working with him on their award-winning Kephart biography.

"George and I were an unlikely pair — I, a librarian living in upstate New York; he, a writer and naturalist in North Carolina. We shared a passion for Horace Kephart and for the Smokies," she said.

"Our writing like our storytelling began to mesh — so much so that we had a hard time discerning who wrote which sentence. I learned a great deal from George — how to be a better writer, how to be more present in the woods. I am still wrestling with fern morphology. George was OK with that. We cannot know it all, but we can revel in the process of learning."

A life well lived and loved, like a 'big brother'

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, Quintin Ellison wrote on her Facebook page.

“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.”

He and Elizabeth had three children, George Robert Ellison III, Milissa Ellison Dewey and Quintin, six grandchildren – George Robert Ellison IV (George Ellison), Daisy Ellison, Jonathan Reed, Elizabeth Liz Reed and Will Murphree – and great-grandchildren.

“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,” Quintin wrote.

A sampling of George Ellison's 'Nature Journals'

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George's Nature Journal:In WNC, you're most likely to see the Appalachian cottontail rabbit

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While at USC, Ellison developed an interest in outdoor literature. An instructor made a list of important American outdoor writings, which included Kephart’s outdoor guide, “Camping and Woodcraft,” according to previous Citizen Times reporting.

That began his interest and research into Kephart. While at UT, Ellison was asked to write the introduction to the 1976 reissue of “Camping and Woodcraft,” (which McCue quoted in her research).

“Kephart was an alcoholic and lost his job as a librarian and his family and came to the Smokies. He said ‘the Smokies have saved my life and I’d like to save them so others can benefit,’” Ellison said in 2019.

Ellison said after his teaching gigs ended, he and his family could have moved anywhere, but chose the WNC mountains in part due to his love of the Smokies and interest in Kephart.

McCue, George Ellison's Kephart co-author, said he was the essence of “being present.”

"Whether sitting at his kitchen table watching a dark-eyed junko foraging under his feeder or hiking the well-worn path on Lands Creek to show me a painted trillium, George was in the natural world. He could hear and see things mere mortals were oblivious to. But, George did not let us languish in our ignorance. He was a patient teacher who showed us how to see the world and how to appreciate that new piece of beauty that was present," she said.

"George was a storyteller. He didn’t lecture or make declarations, he simply wove mesmerizing stories to help us understand. This was true whether George was writing about Kephart’s search for a “back of beyond” or patiently teaching students about the pinnae of a fern."

Dan Pittillo, a naturalist in Jackson County who retired as a biology professor from Western Carolina University, said Ellison was "like an older brother to me."

Pittillo said they met in the 1970s, shortly after the Ellisons moved to the Smoky Mountains. He said he exchanged 1,399 emails with George, dating back to 2005.

"George helped me initiate Chinquapin, the newsletter for the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society in spring 1995," Pittillo said.

"With the introduction into writer Horace Kephart, George recognized how many of us can better understand as we live our lives in these great Southern Appalachians. And the encouragement he gave us for pursuing the understanding of this world where many of us have made our homes," Pittillo told the Citizen Times.

"While many look to the stars and space beyond, there is so much yet to learn and understand about this rock we float upon above the mantle of the molten core. We ride upon this mass of rock in our short life we've been given and hardly realize it."

Quintin Ellison said that in lieu of a memorial service, Elizabeth asked that people 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," she said.

Karen Chávez is Interim Executive Editor for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips, comments, questions? Call 828-236-8980, email, KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or follow on Twitter @KarenChavezACT. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times at citizentimes.com/offers.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: George Ellison Nature Journal columnist and Kephart biographer dies