Ellen Linn

Ellen Linn died on February 21, 2020, at St. John’s Health in Jackson, Wyoming, surrounded by family and friends. She was born Ellen Prentice Welles in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1939.  Her parents were Charles Hopkins Welles 3rd and Marion Ellen Outerbridge Welles.

Ellen attended grammar school in Waverly, Pennsylvania, where she lived, and then junior high school at Abington Heights in Clarks Summit, PA.  She graduated from Abbott Academy in Andover, Massachusets.  She then attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.   Ellen worked briefly in New York City and longer in Sausalito, California, with a brief marriage to artist Frederic Hobbs.

Her Wyoming life began in 1974 as a guest of Loring Woodman at the Darwin Ranch in the Gros Ventres. A vacation at the Darwin was a turning point.  She went home to California and resigned from her job then returned to the Darwin to start a new life.  She learned to ride horses and began to explore the mountains. That fall she met a hunting guide, Gene Linn. By the next spring she was settled in Wilson with Gene learning to work cattle on the Linn Ranch. They purchased an outfitting business and had two children, Peter and Laura.

Peter and Laura most cherish the childhood memories of their mom packing them up on horses and adventuring into the mountains to find dad’s hunting camp and exploring the desert southwest during spring breaks.  Ellen was an avid traveler with favorite destinations to visit close friends or discovering new places with family and friends. Among many other things, she enjoyed playing bridge. The past 4 years have been consumed with the joys of 3 fabulous grandchildren.

Ellen worked with her husband in the family outfitting business of Linn Brothers Outfitting and was involved in the family guest ranch of Linn Canyon Ranch, in Victor, Idaho. She was a dedicated real estate agent for many years.  She served on the boards of the Teton County Board of Realtors and the Old Wilson Schoolhouse Community Center.

In addition to her husband, Eugene (Gene) Albert Linn, Ellen is survived by two children, Peter Grus Linn (partner Kim Neff Havell) who have one daughter, Charlie Edward Linn; and Laura Linn Meadows (husband Dwayne Michael Meadows) who have two children, Adell Sherrerd Meadows and Archer Linn Meadows, all of whom live on the Linn Ranch in Wilson.

She is also survived by two brothers, Charles (Ty) Hopkins Welles IV (wife Linda) of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and William (Bill) Sherrerd Welles (partner Jean) of Buffalo, Wyoming.

Donations can be made in her honor to the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol Scholarship Fund, Attn. M.Malm, POB 661 Wilson, WY 83014 (jhspmemorialfund.org/donate/) or the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, POB 1312 Lander, Wyoming 82520 (wyomingwildlife.org). 

A remembrance  gathering will be held on May 21, 2022 from 4-7pm at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse in Wilson