Ellie Venable of Fairfield departed peacefully from this life on July 20, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born Eleanor Louise Simpson in Fairfield on November 25, 1935, the eldest daughter of Bernard and Ruth (Corder) Simpson. She never much cared for the name Eleanor and went instead by Ellie. A proud, lifelong Mule, she graduated from Fairfield High School in 1953 and continued regularly attending and co-organizing FCHS class reunions into the last decade of her life.
After two years at Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, she left school in 1955 to marry Dallas Venable of Springerton, who had just returned from a tour of duty in Korea. A succession of jobs pulled them eastward: to Anderson, Indiana; to Indianapolis; to Tipp City, Ohio; to Edgewood, Maryland. Along the way, they had three children: Stacy Anne (b. 1960), Dana Beth (b. 1966), and John Ryan (b. 1971). For most of these years Ellie was a dedicated homemaker and mother, nurturing in her children a passion for reading and libraries, a love of family and community, a respect for politesse and manners, and a fierce drive to be the best they could be in whatever their chosen field. She was an excellent seamstress and a passionate and creative quilter. She made remarkable fried chicken — a secret, sadly, that she did not pass down. She loved showtunes, playing Words with Friends, and watching Dancing with the Stars.
It was always her wish to return to Fairfield, and after Dallas’s passing in 2007, this is exactly what she did, purchasing a home on SE 3rd Street where she lived independently for many years, surrounded by her brothers and sisters and their families and the community in which she took such pride. In the fall of 2025 and in declining health, she returned to Maryland to live with her daughter Dana and son-in-law Ron. After a stroke on July 1, she entered hospice where she passed on July 20. She was 90 years old.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, Dallas, and her grandson, Cameron Goode. She is survived by her children, Stacy Goode of Bradenton, Florida; Dana Serano of Perry Hall, Maryland; and John Venable of Ithaca, New York; her grandchildren, Brenden Goode of Orlando, Florida; Lyndsey Delk of Raleigh, North Carolina; Olivia Steigerwald of Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania; Andrew Bruns of Buffalo, New York; and Caroline Bruns of Baltimore, Maryland; and her great-grandchildren, Everett and Avery Delk of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Graham and Ella Grace Goode of Orlando, Florida.
A funeral service will be held at 12 PM, Monday, August 3rd at Johnson and Vaughn Funeral Home, after which she will be reunited with her husband at Maple Hill Cemetery in Fairfield. A visitation will be held from 11 AM until the time of service at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, Ellie wished that donations be made to Lebanon Church, which she attended in her youth and again when she returned to southern Illinois.
