WHS Retirees make it a family affair

Wimberley High School took a double hit when Coach Chris and Colleen Ellis decided to retire. Retiring as a family is really the only way you can describe it. Their daughter, Haley was a 2018 WHS graduate and both agreed that it was finally time.

Education was the family business, you might say, as both of them went to Southwest Texas State where they met. From then on, education became both their livelihoods.

Colleen was born in Ft. Worth but was raised in Bastrop. She graduated from Bastrop High and this is where the family’s love of Central Texas originated. She attended SWT majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. She student taught in Wimberley.

Chris on the other hand was born in Kansas but made his move to Texas and graduated from Brownwood High School. “Dad was a meat packer for Swift. We moved around a lot… finally we moved to Brownwood when Dad was transferred,” Chris said. In high school he played on a state championship football team.

Next for him, it was also on to SWT where he majored in Physical Education with minors in History and Geography. He student taught the first year that Wimberley H.S. opened and was hired for the next year.

With both attending SWT, it was a sure thing that they would meet in Education courses.

As with any young couple, at first it was a struggle after they got married in 1991. Traveling around the state teaching and coaching, with stops in Bastrop, Spring and Iowa Park. Finally they got to Wimberley.

As a coach, Chris’ job was what took them around Texas. He has coached football, basketball and track, and he was Iowa Park’s Athletic Director and Head Football coach. A coach’s job is always hectic.

“I was in coaching school and had to run to Houston to see my daughter (Haley) born,” Chris said. “Coaching was easy. It was the other stuff, parents, personnel, the kids and budgets that were hard.” There also were the good parts.

“Coaching you see kids as freshman and then seniors. You see the changes in maturity.”

As a Science teacher, Colleen enjoyed it. “The best part of the job was being around kids. I enjoy young people. You teach them and then the light bulb comes on, that’s a magic moment. Also being silly with the kids is always fun, like doing ‘The Wobble’ with Marilyn Van Hoozer,” Colleen said.

For those who may not be versed in popular culture, The Wobble is a popular line dance to rapper V.I.C’s song “Wobble.”

But teaching also has it’s drawbacks. There’s a list: grading papers, the state’s mandates that have changed teaching, school shootings, pay, insurance, “all of those are negatives. Teaching is not as attractive anymore. Why would you want to do it?” Colleen said.

As for the future, “you can’t survive on teacher’s retirement. We’ll have to find some part time work. I’ll continue to coach track in season, the hurdles. Show up and I don’t stay anymore,” said Chris.

But moving from Wimberley is not in the plans.

“We had always had planned to come back to Central Texas as my mother still lives in Bastrop,” Colleen said. They have grown to love Wimberley and have had the last seven years with their daughter in the WISD school system.

“My #1 priority was to go to my mother when I need to and see my daughter when I need to. When she goes away in the fall, she will attend Texas A&M,” Colleen said about staying in the area.

Both feel there were rewarding points of teaching, with the people they’ve met and the kids in their classes. “Lasting 31 years at anything that’s good for any profession,” Chris said. “I received accolades and she got hers, too. It worked out well.”