Ellin (center) with Board President Tom Perry and Executive Director Antonia Adezio
If you’ve been a visitor to The Shop since it opened in 2020, you have almost certainly enjoyed the experience so much more because of Ellin Purdom’s deft touch. Ellin’s husband Ned joined the Center’s Board of Trustees in 2019, but Ellin’s own association here goes back even further.
A Bay Area native, Ellin grew up in Piedmont and attended UC Berkeley, where she and Ned met. After they married, they moved to San Anselmo and raised two sons in Ned’s childhood home, which was designed by America’s first independent licensed female architect, Julia Morgan.
Ellin took her boys to Pixie Park here on the grounds when they were little, and she served as president of Pixie Parents in the early 1990s. Those boys are grown now, and son Charlie has also lent his talents to the Center as a photographer and videographer. Ellin’s longstanding love of travel now takes her to Spain regularly to visit her older son’s family, including her first grandchild, who live on Mallorca.
You might find Ellin working at the Black Rabbit Trading Co. in San Anselmo, or at her daily Zumba class, but she earns the title of Volunteer Extraordinaire with us at The Shop. Always welcoming, sharing her enthusiasm for a new find with customers, or showing a vintage piece off to its best advantage in a display, Ellin brings a generous spirit to all that she does. And she does so much! We wouldn’t be able to keep The Shop running smoothly without her, so thank you, Ellin.
Would you like to volunteer with us? Whether you’re ready to get your hands dirty in the gardens, help out at fun public events like our Summer Concerts, or, like Ellin, add some sparkle in The Shop, we’ll be glad to have you.
