In 1973 she married Neels Harmse * 1939 Schweizer Reineke, and they have two daughters, Benita and Anja, and one grandson Tristan. She realised that not much research had been done on the HARMSE family, and is doing so now. She posted the draft composition in the Heritage Foundation's library and at the Library of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Wellington, which contains the GISA collection, for comment and to be supplemented and updated annually with the latest information.
Ellen organises the archives tour to the various archives for the GSSA every year. From a small beginning when they initially only went to the Western Cape Provincial Archive (formerly KAB), it has grown; so much so that tours to the Free State Provincial Archives and also to the National Archives in Pretoria are now being arranged.
Ellen HARMSE née RUSCH, was born on 13 June 1950 in Windhoek, in what was then South West Africa. According to German tradition, a pink flag was hoisted at the hospital as a welcome and a notice was placed in the local newspaper! My parents are Franz * 1908 Windhoek, German South West Africa x Else KAPPEL * 1911 Berlin, Germany. Grandfather Ernst Julius, the progenitor, was one of the first 41 Schutztruppler (German protection forces) to bring peace between the Herero and Nama and set foot on Namibian shores in January 1890. From 1970 Ellen lived in Johannesburg and Kempton Park where she worked in the construction industry and as a lecturer in adult education for the Department of Education until 1995.