Where Are They Now? Frank Ellis

When Frank Ellis was growing up, he never stayed in one place for too long. “My dad was in the military, and we were kind of like gypsy kids,” he said. We moved around a lot.”

Ellis’ family landed in the Dublin area around 1975 to be closer to his dad’s brother and sisters, and Ellis started school there. Every summer, though, they drove out to Colorado for his dad’s seasonal job as a fire lookout for the US Department of Agriculture.

Ellis spent his time at Dublin High School working part-time at restaurants, and graduated early with his GED in 1988. After graduating, he moved back to Colorado, which felt like a second home. There, Ellis began working for the Department of Agriculture as a wildland firefighter.

On an average day, Ellis and his brother would be building fences, putting in blockades on roads, etc. “Basically we maintained the forest,” he said. “But you always had a fire pack with you at all times, with your fire clothes, hardhat, goggles, all the tools you would need, and you had to be ready to throw that in the truck and head out at any point in time.”

During the years he worked as a firefighter, Ellis was able to work with his father. “My father was up on Devil’s Head fire lookout, which is about 10,000 feet in elevation, so he had quite the view of the South Platte Ranger District in which we worked,” Ellis said. “He would sit up there and look for fires and they also had aircraft that would fly over periodically looking for fires. When a fire popped up in the district, they would call the ground crews. Whoever was closest would head there first, and they would drag everybody in.”

Usually there would be around 2-3 fires a month, sometimes more in the height of the fire season. Ellis and his crew would hike in and dig fire lines and work to keep the blaze contained. Every now and then, his crew would get called in to help fight a bigger fire outside of the state.

In his late twenties, Ellis decided to look for a different career, and fell back into restaurant work. His dream was to start his own bed and breakfast, so after a few years spent working at restaurants in the area, he returned to Texas to attend culinary school at le Cordon Bleu (now the Texas Culinary Academy) in Austin in 1999.

When he graduated, he stayed in Austin for another year and then moved back to Colorado, where he started working as a saute chef at a fine dining restaurant in an old church. After that he opened his own restaurant, Rio Bravo Cantina, and then in 2004 began working for Buffalo Wild Wings as a corporate trainer.

Ellis also started his own catering company, called Phat Phranks, which provides smoked meats and gourmet sauces.

In 2007, shortly after Ellis’ first son was born, he went to work for the country club at Castle Pines in Castle Rock, Colorado, as the food and beverage manager. He stayed there for more than seven years, then worked for Blue Ribbon Holding Company for another few years.

“Then actually got out of the restaurant business for a little while,” he said. “My son is autistic and has Asperger’s, so I took almost a year to go through the therapy with him, get him squared away, and make sure that, you know, he was set for a bright future.”

When he returned to work, he started doing sales at Home Depot, where he stayed for seven years. “I actually got back into the restaurant business just this last year, in January,” he said. “One of my old general managers called me in and needed me to help him get another club up and running, so I was right back into it.”

Since January, he has been working as the food and beverage director at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, Colorado. He manages two bars, the main clubhouse and a cafeteria by the pool. “I run about 60 staff members, and my schedule during summertime is pretty much seven days a week, every waking moment,” he said. “But that’s part of the business that this is. And somewhere around September, once the snow flies, the golf course shuts down, the swimming pool shuts down, so then I’m working three, maybe four days a week.”

His job includes administrative duties such as payroll, ordering equipment, making sure the restaurant meets food safety standards, plus keeping morale high. “I tell everybody that my job is ego fluffer and baby kisser,” he said. “I make sure everybody’s happy and moving along.”

Despite the relentless hours in the summer, Ellis loves the fact that he can play golf whenever he wants. “Even on a bad day, if I can go out and play golf, it’s really not that bad of a day,” he said.

When he’s not working, Ellis enjoys spending time with his family. “Last August, I married my best friend of 25 years,” he said.

He met his wife, Shelly, when he was opening up Rio Bravo Cantina. “She was a server, I was the kitchen manager, and we dated on and off for years,” he said. “And then, probably four years ago, she was getting ready to turn 40. Years ago, we made a deal that if neither one of us was married by the time she was 40, we would just marry each other and that’s what we did.”

The Ellises have a blended family with six children, five boys and one girl. “Our plan is, once the kids are out of high school, we’re just going to hit the road in an RV and we’ll drive until we find what we like,” he said. “And then the plan is either having a food truck or a B&B.”

Ellis’ parents, Billy and Margaret Ellis, live nearby in Evergreen with his brother Charlie. Ellis’ father has been one of Ellis’ greatest sources of inspiration throughout his life. “My father did everything he could to make sure that we had a good life growing up,” Ellis said. “He made a lot of sacrifices, just to ensure that we had what we needed. We didn’t always have what we wanted, but we never needed for anything. And he always had a positive attitude and he taught me that the sun comes up tomorrow. You can let it go, and start a new day tomorrow.”

Although he hasn’t been back to Dublin in nearly 30 years, Ellis has many fond memories of his hometown. “I remember riding the drag every Friday night, and homecoming and bonfires,” he said. “Those memories are things you take with you forever because it was your childhood.”

Ellis’ advice to Dublin graduates is to find what they actually like to do for work, not what they think they should like. “Your parents will push you in a direction, your peers will push you in a direction, and they have your best interests at heart,” he said. “But you’re gonna end up working the rest of your life no matter what, and if you’re not happy at your job, find something else. If you’re not happy, nobody around you is gonna be happy, and life’s too short. You’ve got to enjoy every minute. The good Lord only gives us a little time. So enjoy the time.”

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.