On Thanksgiving day, the world got a little smaller when it unexpectedly lost Ellen Robb of Milan, IL. She was 61.  As a teenager, Ellen met and fell in love with John Robb while working at Zayre's Department Store. She embraced her new role as stepmother to his son Chris, and she loved him as her own from the start. She raised 5 children, which was never easy with only 1 bathroom. Her children were her pride and joy, she could brag about each and every one of them for hours. Her grandchildren were the light of her life and she would do anything for them.

Ellen loved music, crediting music as her inspiration for life, and from an early age she sang, played guitar, and wrote her own songs. She filled her years with projects. Not knowing how to do something never stopped her. She believed that if you could read, you could do anything you set your mind to. She would check out stacks of books and donated hundreds of dollars to the public library in the form of late fees. She created a genealogy tracing the Lelonek history across the world, and made a compilation that meant so much to her family. She was always doing home improvement, including carpentry and electrical work, and turning her garage into a family room, where the walls were filled with pictures of her family, and oil paintings created by herself and daughter Brittney. She filled shelves with food she and John grew in their garden and canned herself. When she threw a party she planned for weeks and spared no expense.

With no formal training in business or flower design, but moral support from her beloved Grandma Lelonek, she opened her own flower shop, Backyard Bouquets. Everyone called her "The Flower Lady." She was a conversationalist who got to know her customers as her friends. People would spend hours in her shop, and as she arranged flowers they would tell her their life stories.

She was proud of her journey from stay-at-home mom to business owner, then later to sales representative at Bonnett Florist Wholesale, Marketing Executive at Trillium Staffing, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Country Stone. She brought her heart and her creative spirit to work every day, and she had so many coworkers that she loved dearly.

Visitation will be Tuesday from 4 to 7 pm at Wheelen-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Milan. In accordance with Ellen's wishes, instead of a formal service there will be a Celebration of Life to be held at a later date. Her goal was to give thanks for all the people who touched her world and to show how grateful she was for the life God gave her, and all the people she was blessed to have known. She left instructions to make sure the food is good. Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association.

She will be reunited in heaven with her father, Max Lelonek and her best friend, Judy Disenroth. Survivors include husband, John Robb; mother, Hilda Lelonek, children, Chris (Brenda) Robb, Andy (fiance, Mariah) Robb, Erin (Sean) Tavernier, Dustin Robb, and Brittney (Nate) Pillow; brother, Max (Jan) Lelonek; sisters, Karen (Dan) White, and Jenny Moses; sisters-in-law, Janet (Ralph) Beck, and Judy (Dave) Dipple; grandbabies, Joseph and Samuel Tavernier, Eve and Carter Robb, and Theodore Pillow.

Online condolences may be left for the family at wheelanpressly.com