Grandmother, voracious reader, fashion industry veteran

Ellen Marie Dauchy (née Maloney), age 73, of Ontario, died April 2 at San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland.

Ellen grew up in Claremont, and graduated from St. Lucy’s Priory High School in 1967, where she was student body president. She earned her bachelor’s degree from UC Davis and MBA from UC Berkeley.

She worked throughout the fashion and textiles industry, including highlights such as interning at Seventeen magazine in New York City and working for The Emporium and Levi Strauss in San Francisco. The balance of her artistic eye and analytical brain made her invaluable in the office and, in later years, handling the books of the family business.

Her life transformed with the birth of her son, and her most worthwhile job was being his cheerleader. Even during life’s toughest challenges, she was a listening ear and fierce advocate for her family.

She loved reading, travel, fashion, knitting, bargain hunting, spending time with family and friends, and taking care of her two felines Chelsea and One-Eyed Jack. Her favorite places in the world were watching the sunsets in Albuquerque, New Mexico and on the island of Moloka‘i in Hawaii. She also never met a dessert she didn’t like, although See’s Candy was her favorite.

She was a wealth of knowledge to everyone who knew her, often retelling an interesting detail from one of the many books on her shelf. She loved to get lost in a story, endlessly enjoying novels, memoirs, or nonfiction books on how-to guides, history, science, and art, time and again falling asleep late at night with a book until a cat would snuggle on her shoulder to wake her.

H er pride and joy was in her role as a mother to her son, as well as nana to her two grandchildren. Spiritually, she practiced Sokka Gakkai Nichiren Buddhism and believed in our inherent potential toward courage, wisdom, and compassion to overcome any problem or difficulty that we may face in life, and that when we change, the world changes. To that end, she overcame the insurmountable and her hope inspired all.

She was predeceased by her father, Robert Eugene Maloney, and mother, Mary Jean Maloney.

She is survived by her son Philip Dauchy and daughter-in-law Rachel Dauchy; grandchildren Maren and Colin; sister Maureen Maloney Gorski; brothers Brian Maloney (Cathy) and Kevin Maloney (Valerie); as well as nephews, nieces, cousins and countless friends.

A celebration of life will take place at Todd Memorial Chapel, 325 N. Indian Hill Blvd., Claremont CA, 91711, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 21. The family requests that all flowers and notes be sent to Todd Memorial Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to a charity supporting cancer or arthritis research would be greatly appreciated.