Ellen Pence, who passed away last week, would never have called herself a courageous leader, yet her life’s work embodied all the characteristics we ascribe to those who tackle tough problems and motivate people to address the world’s injustices. Ellen was smart, a visionary, a teacher, a mentor and an advocate.She drew people to her cause and her work though humor, challenging conversations and effective strategies. Her commitment to making the world free of violence against women and children never wavered throughout her life—and because of her, things changed.

Ellen was the director of the Minnesota Battered Women Program at the Department of Corrections when she hired me as her research analyst. In this role, I watched her teach the Minnesota Legislature that joking about wife beating was not acceptable. I witnessed her educate battered women from throughout the state on how to develop services for other women and to change systems that kept women in violent homes. I saw the tenor of the conversation change as policymakers listened to the voices of battered women who had been silenced for so many years. And the joking stopped. I saw financial support for shelters and services increase, and policies adopted to help victims be safe in their home.

Ellen’s connection to the Bush Foundation dates from the late 1970s, when she worked with Liz Pegues, a senior program officer at the Foundation to educate then-president, Humphrey Doermann, and the Board about the need for emergency shelters and services for battered women and their children. The Foundation’s early funding for services and education programs about the issue of domestic violence helped establish Minnesota as the model for effective statewide services. More importantly, a courageous funding decision by the Foundation’s Board helped Ellen develop the first coordinated community response to victims of domestic violence in Duluth. The Duluth Model effectively shifted from the victim to the community the responsibility to keep victims safe and hold abusers accountable to the whole community. Ellen's trainings changed systems and communities throughout the world.

Ellen’s legacy is broad. Countless battered women and their children are alive because of her pioneering work. Law enforcement, corrections, judicial and other professionals do their work differently because of her.  And last, but by no means least, she leaves behind a huge network of people like me who call her friend. 

Maggie Arzdorf-Schubbe is a 1988 Bush Fellow and a long-time consultant to the Bush Foundation.

YouTube, Twin Cities Public Television or in a 2010 plenary address for the Batterers Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan.