Ellen Krohne

Ellen Krohne recently published Living with Hope - True Stories of Chronic Illness, her fourth book. Twelve people's journey with chronic illness, including her own, are told in this hope-filled and inspiring work. Stories include those of Parkinson's disease, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, cancers, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, ALS, blindness, a paraganglioma tumor, and Alzheimer's disease. The strength, resilience, and gratitude of those in the stories are inspiring in this easy-to-read collection.

Ellen is looking forward to continuing her writing career and telling family stories that can bring hope and encouragement to her readers. Proceeds from all of her books are donated to Heartlinks Grief Center, a program of Family Hospice of Belleville, Illinois, where the author has the privilege to volunteer.

Lots of change has been a blessing in her life! She worked for Illinois Power Company for 27 years, from front-line customer service to VP of Customer Service; as an international business consultant for a decade; and as Executive Director of the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois until her retirement some years ago.

She treasures her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organizational management, both earned as an adult while working full time and raising a family. Ellen is currently enjoying being a grandparent, traveling, and doing volunteer work in retirement with her husband, Bill.

She feels grateful to have authored her first book, We Lost Her, about her family’s grief journey after the tragic death of their mother in the early 70's. She is honored to tell seven families’ stories of losing a child to the opioid crisis and ways we can help stop the stigma and prevent future tragedies in her second book, Heartbroken: Grief and Hope Inside the Opioid Crisis, co-authored with Diana Cuddeback, LCSW and Matthew Ellis, MPE.

Heartbroken was awarded a Bronze medal in the 2020 Reader’s Favorite Book Award Contest in the Grief/Hardship category and won 2nd place in the 2020 TCK Reader’s Choice Award in the Health category.

Her third book is a children’s picture book, The Secret of a Mommy’s Love. It is written to honor her mother-in-law, Doris Krohne, who first told her the secret of how Jesus helps a mother’s love grow with each child that is added to a family. Ellen’s six grandchildren collaborated on the book, and she hopes that families will enjoy it as much as she enjoyed writing it.