All in the Family
A four-generation Ellis family on the importance of girls’ schools, the impact of Ellis, and ensuring a legacy that will benefit future generations of girls and young women
On a busy day in May, when The Ellis School’s students and teachers excitedly looked ahead to end-of-year ceremonies and Commencement, Louise Kay CHILDS Woodside ’87 visited campus and indulged in some quiet time to look back.
On a busy day in May, when The Ellis School’s students and teachers excitedly looked ahead to end-of-year ceremonies and Commencement, Louise Kay CHILDS Woodside ’87 visited campus and indulged in some quiet time to look back.
Sitting with members of the School’s Advancement and Marketing teams, Louise Kay opened a treasure trove of Ellis items from her personal archives, including chain letters and childhood photos with classmates, elementary school geography research assignments—not so different from what today’s students might study—and writing assignments that capture the life of an eight-year-old girl in the mid-to-late seventies. These cherished items are the foundation for decades of memories at a school that feels like a second home.
“I remember walking through the door of Arbuthnot for the first time with my mother. It would probably have been the first week of August in 1974; my father had passed away tragically and suddenly in March of that year. I had never really been inside of a regular school that I recalled because I hadn’t started Kindergarten, but Ellis felt like going from one home to another home,” she said. “I could be my complete self at Ellis. Authenticity is part of Ellis. It was ok to be smart. It was ok to raise your hand. It was encouraged.”
Louise Kay attended Ellis through ninth grade, like many family members before her, and then attended high school at St. Marks School in Massachusetts. But, when it came time for her own daughters to start school, there was never a question in her mind that she would send them to Ellis.
Back
“I remember walking through the door of Arbuthnot for the first time with my mother. It would probably have been the first week of August in 1974; my father had passed away tragically and suddenly in March of that year. I had never really been inside of a regular school that I recalled because I hadn’t started Kindergarten, but Ellis felt like going from one home to another home,” she said. “I could be my complete self at Ellis. Authenticity is part of Ellis. It was ok to be smart. It was ok to raise your hand. It was encouraged.”
Louise Kay attended Ellis through ninth grade, like many family members before her, and then attended high school at St. Marks School in Massachusetts. But, when it came time for her own daughters to start school, there was never a question in her mind that she would send them to Ellis.
The Family Tree
There is a long tradition of women in the Childs-Ebbert-Woodside families attending The Ellis School, and Louise Kay recalled the connection she shares with many of her relatives.
On her mother’s side of the family, Ellisians included her mother, Kay EBBERT Childs Bissell ’60; her mother’s sisters, Genevieve ‘Gez’ EBBERT ’62 and Lowrie ‘L.C.’ Childs EBBERT Reiter ’70; her grandmother, Lowrie WURTS Ebbert ’39; and her grandmother’s younger sister, Mary ‘Mernie’ WURTS Berger ’41.
Many women on her father’s side of the family also attended Ellis. Her father’s sister, Dorothy ‘Sally’ CHILDS deGuzman ’44 went to Ellis, and his brother sent his three daughters to the School: Marguerite CHILDS Detmer ’70, Laura CHILDS Saverin ’72, and Sally CHILDS Walsh ’75.
It was once common for Ellis students to leave the school after ninth grade to attend boarding schools in high school, and this was the case for all of the women in Louise Kay’s family—until her own daughters, Lowrie WOODSIDE ’21 and Sara WOODSIDE ’24 became Lifers, starting in Pre-K and graduating from grade 12.
Ellis is a special place for Lowrie and Sara because of the teachers who encouraged their curiosity and supported their interests. It’s also fun for them to discover where their experience overlaps with other members of their family.
Sara said the green and white games stand out to her—her family were part of the green team— and she and Lowrie both noted that it was special to have some of the same classes, in the same spaces, as their mother.
“My mom remembers certain rooms being similar. The Middle School, for a while, looked exactly the same,” Sara said. “What’s really amazing is that there were a few teachers here that my mom had that my sister and I were also lucky enough to have.
We all had Ms. Crosby and Coach McConnell. Ms. [Robin] Newham was an art teacher when my mom was at Ellis. When I was a tour guide here, I had people recognize me because they were in a class with my grandmother or a cousin. It’s beautiful to have those shared things that we all remember.”
The sisters said they appreciate being able to say that they have something in common with so many other women in their family.
“Ellis has been a homey environment for a long time,” Lowrie said. “Family is here.”
For the Girls
For Louise Kay, Lowrie, and Sara, the impact of attending an all-girls school is clear. The confidence and self-assurance they gained from such a supportive environment, and the love of learning that stemmed from teachers encouraging them to explore their interests, helped shape them personally and influenced their college and career choices.
“I’m trying to think of the boys and girls that I taught and the dynamic there,” said Louise Kay, who had a career as a teacher. She holds a Masters of Education in Reading from Virginia Commonwealth University, and earned her Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education from Westhampton College at the University of Richmond.
“The first kindergarten class that I taught ended up shaking down to one girl and three boys. I think of that little girl to this day. She was tough as nails!” she said. “I think it’s important—and frankly I think this about boys schools, too—that these schools have a place. There is a way for boys to have a safe space, and for girls to have a safe space.”
Lowrie and Sara talked about feeling empowered by their girls’ school experience, about the lack of pressures that could otherwise distract their focus from academics, and about the level of preparation they received for college—and for life.
“Being with all girls creates a sisterhood where you don’t have outside pressures. In college, I went to school with boys for the first time,” Lowrie said. “I can see, in certain contexts, how people who have gone to all-girls schools are much more confident in coed environments. They’re more willing to try different things, and to step up a little bit more. It was a nice environment to grow up in.”
Lowrie graduated from George Washington University in 2025 with a major in French Language, Literature and Culture, and minors in Korean Language and Literature and Creative Writing. She currently lives overseas and teaches English at Milestone Institute in South Korea. Of her Ellis experience, she said she enjoyed being able to grow up in a community of people who are serious about their academic life—or their sport, or performing arts. The ability to explore is unrestricted.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to be able to do a lot of things at the same time. I was able to do sports and operetta at the same time,” she said. “You can change really quickly. There are so many opportunities afforded to you if you just try. And you’re encouraged to do so.”
Sara, who is currently studying English and is on the pre-law track at Syracuse University, said being in an all-girls school prepared her well for her college experience.
“Those years of feeling empowered to ask questions and speak for myself [at Ellis] were really important,” she said. “Being at an all girls school is not just important academically but socially. The time I got to spend with my friends is so different from anything I would have experienced otherwise. There’s a level of feeling safe with the people around you. We had really great conversations because we have a level of similarity with each other. That’s how women feel when they’re together. You don’t have someone behind you trying to knock you off of your goals.”
A Legacy to Live By
Looking back at their long history with Ellis, and ahead to their own futures, Lowrie and Sara reflected on a unique experience that they believe should be available to all girls and young women.
“I hear about other people’s high school experiences all the time—public, private, wherever they went—and I don’t hear anything nearly as personalized as what Ellis has managed to do,” Lowrie said. “I don’t hear about people going back for things like alumnae panels, or to be guest judges for something like Ellis Idol. You don’t see it with other institutions. The sisterhood that has been cultivated here is immense.”
She noted that the environment encourages friendships between grade levels—and across generations. She knows her mother’s Ellis friends, and enjoys the network of camaraderie and support that comes with that.
“No matter what, you can meet anyone who went to Ellis and know you have a mutual understanding. You gain social flexibility that will help you in the long run, and there’s an ability to nurture the next generation. Having that dynamic gives you perspectives you wouldn’t normally have.”
Sara appreciated the differences of girls and young women at Ellis, and the new perspectives that came from learning about their interests, families, cultures and heritages.
“You go out in the world and there are so many people who put so much energy into picking women apart and pitting them against each other that a space like Ellis is really important. Where else are you going to have this much positive reinforcement and knowledge that you have what it takes to do what you want to do?” she said.
“Ellis feels like a place where you can laugh and argue in the same day with the same people and not feel worried about it when you get home, because it’s done in a way that is healthy and productive. At Ellis there is a standard that we all fulfill in different ways: to do the best with what you’re given. You’re able to do that in a place where you feel safe and empowered. It’s a place where comfort isn’t about staying in your own box, but being able to do things you weren’t sure about.”
When Sara thinks of what Ellis will be in the future, how it will look, and who will be sitting in the classrooms, she has one hope: that the School is filled with people who care for and appreciate each other.
“I want Ellis to still be a place where people can thrive and connect with each other in a way that adds something to their lives. That’s what Ellis was for me—a place where I felt safe and accounted for, and that there was always something there for me,” she said. “In 50 years, I want Ellis to still be that place.”
