Ellen Jo Treagus

ELLEN JO TREAGUS

Beloved Mother, Wife, Artist, and Teacher

August 3, 1942 - April 14, 2024

It is with sadness that we announce the passing on April 14 of this year Ellen Jo Treagus, 81, of Santa Rosa, beloved mother and wife, local artist, and teacher. She died of acute respiratory failure at Kaiser Hospital, after checking in to their ER for help with her breathing as she’d been coping with asthma and COPD in her last years. Jo had a kind generous nature and a gentle, quiet disposition, yet when she had her mind set, no one could sway her opinion, as anyone who knew her well could attest. She was always there, providing support and guidance to family and students alike when they needed it, whether as a quiet champion in the corner to spur you on, or a gentle hand to help you find your way.

Ellen Jo, better known to family and friends as Jo (or sometimes Jodi), and as “Mrs. Van Gogh” to some of her students, was born in Rocky Ford, Colorado on August 3rd, 1942 to Sam and Iva Markus. She was the middle child between sister Vicki and brother, Steve. Growing up Jo rode horses since she was little. “We used to call her horsie,” sister Vicki remembers. In high school, she first became interested in art and became a drum majorette who marched in the front of the marching band.

Following the unexpected death of Jo’s father Sam, the Markus family relocated to California where they had relatives near the Sacramento area. Over the next few years, Jo began pursuing and studying art formally in college. While working as a teller at Crocker Bank’s Carmel branch, she met a charming young bank executive from England, Ian Treagus, who had been sent to train its managers. Having the opportunity to see each other every day, the two soon fell in love. When it came time for Ian to return home, he proposed instead.  Ian transferred to the Carmel branch to work in America and the two married.

Together they had three boys, Stephen, Christopher, and Michael. Ian took a position as Vice President of Crocker's San Francisco headquarters and in the 70’s they moved to Sonoma County to raise their family, enabling Jo to be a stay-at-home mother and do paintings, which she regularly entered in art shows and displayed at local banks and credit unions. She started her own business, “Murals by Markus,” creating custom paintings on people’s walls and also providing personalized instruction to children in drawing and painting. Her proudest work came when she did a portrait for the Sacramento Zoo of one of their most popular animals, Bob the tiger, who had developed cancer and had one of its limbs amputated. He would succumb to the disease within the year. The zoo continued to display Jo’s portrait of Bob long afterward in his memory.

When her kids began school, Jo took a job as a teacher’s aide at Whited Elementary so that she could be with them afternoons and in summer.  She also became Whited’s art instructor. Her teaching wove cultural and historical context into each lesson plan, giving the children an understanding of and an appreciation for art.  Later, she went to work at the preschool of Bethlehem Children's Center where she began the Sunflower series teaching the children about famous painters such as Vincent Van Gogh. By the end of this course, each student would have completed their own version of Van Gogh’s famous still life of a sunflower in a vase, which would later be displayed at that year’s Sonoma County Fair in a special exhibit in the Hall of Flowers, and where several of her students won awards for their paintings. Both students and their parents loved these lessons. Families with multiple young children enrolled couldn’t wait to have a sunflower painted by each of their kids. The children were so fond of discovering Van Gogh that some would affectionately refer to Jo as “Mrs. Van Gogh.” 

Jo worked at Bethlehem Children’s Center in the nursery with infants and with older kids in the preschool where she continued teaching art until she retired. 

Jo is survived by sons Stephen (Chie) and Christopher, sister Vicki Snyder, and brother Steve (Sandy) Markus. She was preceded in death by her husband Ian, mother Iva, and son, Michael. A memorial service will be held in her honor at 2:00 pm on July 20, 2024, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 1300 St Francis Road in Santa Rosa, California, officiated by Jo’s long-time friend and spiritual mentor, Pastor Jim Lapp of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, Santa Cruz. Donations may be made on Jo’s behalf to Bethlehem Children’s Center, a non-profit, privately-owned ministry outreach of ​Bethlehem Lutheran Church’s​ Christian Education Program.    

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