Mareseleisa "Mary" Ellington

Mareseleisa Siu Ellington of Redcliffe QLD, Australia died peacefully on December 18, 2018 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with her husband by her side.

Mary was born to Logovi’i and Chief Fa'amata Sasala Brown in the small village of Siuniu, Upolu in Samoa. She moved to Auckland, New Zealand as a young girl where she grew up and graduated from Auckland Girl’s Grammar School. Later she moved to Australia and received her education in computer programming. In 2002, she met her husband, Kenneth Ellington, in Sydney Australia. She immigrated to the United States of America in 2003 where she married the love of her life in a private ceremony on August 27, 2003 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The couple later had their formal wedding on February 4, 2006 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Their 15-year union was shared together in love while serving in the United States Air Force all the while eagerly anticipating their return to Australia to rejoin her family overseas upon retirement.

The couple lived in various places following her husband’s military career including Kalamazoo, Michigan; Fort Walton Beach, Florida; Del Rio, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and finally Enid, Oklahoma in 2015. She was really excited as they were planning to move back to Tucson, Arizona in February 2019.

Mary was the most loving and compassionate person who helped family, friends, and strangers alike in any way she could. Most notably, Mary loved her Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. She volunteered both at Vance Air Force Base and in the Enid community. She enjoyed singing, dancing, entertaining, and giving her “palagi” a hard time. Her door was always open to the neighborhood for family and friends to drop in. Her cup truly runneth over. If there was one thing everyone learned from her it was LOVE. However, you always knew where you stood with her because she was “straight to the point”. Though she had a tough exterior, she had a soft heart…like a coconut, and deeply cared for everyone around her.

Mary is survived by her husband, Captain Kenneth Ellington; children, Lisa and Paul Robertson, Rosina and Craig Kelly, Junior Perese, Kencenne and Bassam Cherkaoui, Jonathan and Rosannah Perese; grandchildren; great grandchildren; brothers and sisters; aunts and uncles; hundreds of cousins. Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Logovi’i and Chief Fa’amata Sasala Brown.

A memorial service will be held at Brown-Cumming’s Funeral Home on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 from 6 – 8 p.m. Her husband will accompany the transport of her remains to Australia for her final funeral service and subsequent burial in Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, Australia on January 8, 2019.

The family would like to thank St. Mary’s Hospital in Enid, Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma Medical Center for their incredibly compassionate care of Mary during her final hours. Special thanks are also given to Brown-Cumming’s Funeral Home in Enid, Oklahoma as well as Guardian Funerals in Minchinbury NSW, Australia for their care of Mary throughout this extremely difficult time.

In lieu of flowers, her husband has asked for donations to be placed in her name to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a charity she greatly supported.