Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced in late March that his mother, Clida Ellison, had died. Ellison and his family later revealed it was due to complications from COVID-19.
My brothers and I (Leonard, Brian, Tony and Eric) had a unbelievably cool mom, Clida Martinez Ellison. Smart, funny, tenacious, foodie, and so much more. Early this morning, she passed on. Prayers. Gratitude for her 81 years here with us; incredible person. pic.twitter.com/1wa4NyFf0i
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) March 26, 2020
Thursday on the Chad Hartman Show, Ellison spoke publically for the first time about the passing of his mother.
"You know, she had a big smile, and she always, always, always was in an optimistic, hopeful mood," Ellison said. "My brothers and I don't have any sisters, but I got four brothers and we had we were like looking for a picture where mom wasn't smiling because she's always doing that. She just was. She was a great cook. She loved her garden. She was a social worker. And she did that work up until February. She was 82 when she passed, and she had been at work six weeks before. So she's a person who is all about, you know, just positivity. Hope, love, funny. She had a great sense of humor. She definitely was good for jokes. So that was my mom."
Ellison's mother, who had surgery in February but had returned home, ended up in ICU on a ventilator."My brother told me somehow she has pneumonia," the Attorney General told Hartman. "I thought she went in for a surgical infection problem. He said, yeah, but I'm just telling you what's going on. And that next morning he told us that she passed away."
