August 6th, 1938 - September 23rd, 2019
Richard Warren Ellsworth, born 1938 in Caldwell Idaho to Warren and Gertrude Ellsworth, survived by wife, Marlene Kay Ellsworth and children Richard Ellsworth Jr, Christopher Ellsworth and Rebekah Tobar. Dad passes with 10 grandkids and 11 great grandkids
That was our Dad. Preacher, pastor, missionary pilot. He worked very hard to make sure that we were fed and had a roof over our head. Rick and I were pretty young when we went moving around the country as Dad prepared to go to Brazil to be a missionary pilot and in 1970 that’s exactly where we went. Mom and Dad, me and Rick, oh, and my little sister Becka in mom’s tummy. If that’s not a testimony of our parents faith and trust in the Lord, to fly to a strange place with two little boys while pregnant, I don’t know what is. After a couple years sharing the gospel in Brazil we moved back to California and ended up in Lodi where Dad was an associate pastor of Hammer Lane Baptist Church in Stockton for a year. In 1973 the church moved to Lodi and became Maranatha Baptist Church where Dad became pastor. He pastored there until 1983 when he, Mom and Becka moved to Sacramento and became a part of Citadel Baptist Church where he worked in various positions in the church and in the school. In 1997 he and Mom started a care home for elderly women where he worked until 2008 when it closed and he became the pastor of Meadowview Bible in Sacramento. After 2 years at Meadowview Mom and Dad joined Sutter Creek Baptist Church where Dad worked as associate pastor until 2016. This was about the time Dad‘s Alzheimer’s prevented him from teaching and preaching in an official capacity. He would still try to teach and preach at all of our family gatherings with a little bit of help from the rest of us. It was so great to hear him preach the gospel which was one of the few things that Dad could speak pretty clearly about, we all knew where it was coming from.
He wasn’t a perfect Dad as none are, he was a good dad who did the very best that he could with what he had been given in life as do we all. Most important he gave his kids the only sure foundation in life, that is the free gift of Jesus Christ. He also did the two things that were most important to him in his entire life, to teach the Bible and preach the very good, great, incredible news “the gospel” of Jesus Christ. To give to us and as many people that would listen the only true foundation to stand on as they pass through this short life. To preach the gospel, that all people have fallen short of God’s perfect righteousness and that there is an emptiness in our hearts that can only be filled by God and that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. It never bothered us that preaching the gospel was his priority because this life is very temporary and the good news of the gospel and the free gift of Jesus Christ is eternal and certainly the most important thing in life.
We love dad, we are very blessed that he is such a large part of all of our lives. We will miss him for a little while but then we will spend eternity with him because he introduced us to the only path to that life, Jesus.
Dad will be interned with military honors at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery with a small family gathering on October 10. There will be an open house celebration of Dad‘s life at Mom’s house on Saturday the 12th between 1 PM and 5 PM. Please come and share memories of Dad with everyone.
Cherokee Memorial is honored to serve the Ellsworth family.
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