Elizabeth Ellett: Celebrating Zebulon’s First Female Commissioner

By MaryBeth Carpenter

In 1957, Zebulon residents elected their first woman as Town Commissioner. Elizabeth Williams Ellett was elected in 1957 and served two more terms, in 1959 and 1961, before losing her seat in the election of 1963. In that time, the elections were held in May.

She then served a three year term on the Planning Board as Secretary to further serve the Town.

Elizabeth was a fourth grade teacher at Wakelon School. After the May 1963 election, she travelled extensively over the summer and reportedly around the world. She spoke to the Zebulon Women’s Club in November 1963 where she “told of her experiences on the trip and slowed slides of some of the beautiful spots she visited,” according to a Zebulon Record article in November 1963.

She had been the wife of John Thomas Ellett, who was a superintendent of the Norfolk division of the Norfolk and Western Railway, and they lived in Crewe, Virginia until he died in 1948. She moved to Zebulon in the 1950s.

Elizabeth and her sister Martha Williams bought the home at 214 E Sycamore Street and lived there more than 30 years. As Elizabeth aged, she became wheelchair bound and lived in the back of the house, while Martha lived upstairs.

The house was sold in 1994 and Elizabeth died in 1998 at the age of 94. She is buried in Zebulon’s Town Cemetery.

 

MaryBeth Carpenter is Executive Director of Preservation Zebulon.