Ellen Marie Hinman passed away peacefully on May 5, 2022 at her home with her loving husband Daryl at her bedside. She had courageously battled Pancreatic Cancer for the last 5.5 years.

She was born in San Ignace, upper Michigan on November 11, 1953. At age twelve, her family moved to Pomona, California. She graduated from California State Polytechnic University Pomona with a degree in Microbiology in 1976 and began a career as a medical lab technician in Pasadena. She married and moved to Ridgecrest in 1978.

Ellen worked at Drummond Medical Group and Ridgecrest Community Hospital before she transferred to the Naval Weapons Center in 1981. There she worked as a Physical Science Technician and Software Data Management Specialist before moving into Program Management. She retired in 2011 after a very successful career and was highly regarded by both her managers and fellow employees.

In 1978 and 1982 Ellen gave birth to her two children, Adam and Maureen Brackey. She loved them from the moment that she knew she carried them. Despite the demands of work, their well-being was always her top priority.

After her first marriage ended, Ellen married Daryl Hinman in 1991. They deeply cherished their relationship, which lasted over 30 years. Their love only grew deeper over that time, especially once they knew their time together was limited.

Ellen was an extremely talented person. Her interests included writing poetry, crocheting, beading jewelry, cooking, and gardening. She wrote over 200 poems on many varied subjects and in 2011 proudly published a poetry book entitled ‘Life’s Journey’. She created hundreds of pieces of beaded jewelry, which were mostly given to her grateful family, friends, and medical personnel or donated to organizations for fundraising events.

Ellen and Daryl had a very active life, which included hiking, backpacking, camping, 4WD off-roading, sailing, and traveling. Ellen loved being in natural and unique environments. Most of her hiking was in the Sierras. Her notable backpacking includes the Lost Coast in Northern California and Haleakala Crater and Waimanu Valley in Hawaii.

They did many camping trips to the beaches, mountains, and deserts. Notable primitive camping required 4WD to remote areas of the California desert and beaches of Baja. After years of tent camping, they upgraded to the ease of a 21ft camper van in 2018.

Ellen is the veteran of well over 100 off-road trips ranging from one to eight days in length. Ellen and Daryl also owned a 32ft sailboat and they cruised in the areas of San Diego and Catalina Island for many years.

Beside many road trips in the US and Canada, they did extended international travel. This included Israel, Jordan, Egypt, New Zealand, Greece, and Italy. The 5-week long Israel trip was Ellen’s most rewarding because as a strong Christian, she considered it her pilgrimage.

Her family are grateful to the many medical personnel involved in her cancer treatment and the caregivers during her hospice. We are also grateful to her many friends who supported her during this journey. Her faith and the strength it gave her impressed all who witnessed it.

Daryl, Adam, and Maureen will forever love and miss Ellen immensely and will cherish the time they were blessed to share with her. They are fiercely proud of the positive attitude she demonstrated during her fight against Pancreatic Cancer. They take comfort in knowing her suffering is over and that she is with Our Lord in Heaven.

A service for Ellen will be held at the Ridgecrest United Methodist Church on Saturday, June 11 at 10:30 AM.

https://www.ridgecrestca.com/obituaries/ellen-marie-hinman/article_c0bfa1d2-e104-11ec-b01c-8f819faa76ce.html