{"id":40746,"date":"2019-05-04T10:41:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T17:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=40746"},"modified":"2019-05-07T19:46:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T02:46:18","slug":"bobby-sandy-ellis-two-jewels-in-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/bobby-sandy-ellis-two-jewels-in-the-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobby & Sandy Ellis: Two Jewels in the Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"
(John M. Glionna | Desert Companion) –\u00a0<\/span>Bob Ellis is on his cellphone again, this time making a midday call to the principal of the Henderson elementary school that bears his name.<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cDid I wake you up there, principal?\u201d he asks.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
He wants to make an appointment for the following morning.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWhat time is your AA meeting?\u201d he asks.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
But Principal Shauna Hall is onto this man and his routine.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cNo, Bob,\u201d she shoots back. \u201cI went before I came to work at 6 a.m.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cAnd you went for drinks right afterward?\u201d Ellis says. Then he lets loose with a deep laugh, a \u201cHa!\u201d loud enough that he glances around the restaurant where he\u2019s having lunch in a nanosecond of self-consciousness.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
For Ellis, it\u2019s just a bit of fun with an authority figure, a good-natured razzing from a 76-year-old man who was, at best, a C-student all those years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
He\u2019s a local boy made good who dropped out of college after just one semester, who made his fortune in the family trucking business after admitting that he had a drinking problem. He quit that day. Yeah, Bob Ellis, the smiling prankster everyone calls \u201cBobby,\u201d likes to have his laughs.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
For her part, Hall also relishes the regular banter with a benefactor who is quick to assist the 600 students at Robert and Sandy Ellis Elementary School, located in the master-planned Inspirada community.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
When it comes to supporting public education \u2014 whether it\u2019s downtrodden older schools, underprivileged students, or even this expansive new school \u2014 the Henderson couple is among the most generous philanthropic duos in the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
In the past 15 years, they have donated millions to more than two dozen schools, mostly in Clark and Lincoln counties. Each December, they sponsor assemblies at which they distribute shoes, socks, and toys to thousands of students who would otherwise not receive anything for the holiday season.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cUntil you get into this, you really don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like,\u201d Sandy says. \u201cKids send us cards and letters expressing their appreciation. They come up to us to say how thrilled they are.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The couple\u2019s donations, she said, have also revealed the poverty that exists across Nevada. \u201cA 9-year-old boy said, \u2018Mrs. Ellis, thank you. You have no idea how much I needed these new shoes. Mine were torn and dirty. And I love the color black.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
If Bobby wasn\u2019t so busy delivering his one-liners, it might be enough to make him cry.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
There\u2019s just no stiffness to the guy, not an ounce of pomp and circumstance. Everyone who knows him \u2014students, teachers, school administrators, mayors, governors, senators \u2014 agrees on this: Bobby Ellis is the joker in the deck, the liveliest of wires, the kid at heart, a self-made businessman who does serious things but who never takes himself seriously.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cPeople never know whether I\u2019m telling the truth,\u201d he says. \u201cBack when I was a kid, my great-grandmother used to say, \u2018Bobby, why are you always lying?\u2019 And I\u2019d say, \u2018I\u2019m not lying. I\u2019m just stretching the truth, grandma.\u2019\u201d He lets out another \u201cHa!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Neither Bob nor Sandy come from monied roots \u2014 his father started out trucking hay, Sandy was raised by a single mother \u2014 but once they married, they made a pledge that if they ever did come into sizable wealth, they would give something back to the community.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cBobby is the genuine article, the real deal,\u201d says former Nevada governor and U.S. Senator Richard Bryan. \u201cHe\u2019s the epitome of the good citizen, someone who benefitted from hard work and who is at a place in his life to pay something back. My dad had a name for it, \u2018paying your civic rent,\u2019 and Bobby has paid his civic rent.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Ellis is a compact 5-foot-9 with glasses and carries a thick wallet, stuffed with too many credit cards, which he keeps wrapped in a yellow elastic band. He\u2019s always on, but Shauna Hall no longer blushes at his material.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI come to expect it now,\u201d she says. \u201cHe may have missed his calling as a standup comedian. But he also has the biggest heart in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Last May, for the school\u2019s opening-day ceremony, Hall limited Ellis and his wife to 20 guests for the event. When the couple arrived, they were stunned to find that school officials had organized 400 friends and acquaintances.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Ellis recalls. \u201cI looked at that principal and I told her, \u2018I\u2019ve been set up.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(John M. Glionna | Desert Companion) –\u00a0Bob Ellis is on his cellphone again, this time making a midday call to the principal of the Henderson elementary school that bears his name. \u00a0 \u201cDid I wake you up there, principal?\u201d he asks. \u00a0 He wants to make an appointment for the following morning. \u00a0 \u201cWhat time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40748,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40746\/revisions\/40748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}