Initially they absolutely refused , saying she would have to wait until she was 21, but when they realized that she was serious and that she would be 21 in the middle of winter, they relented. On the 1st of April, 1950, she was baptised in the Wanganui river, when it was flooding. One of the missionaries, Lowell Hartley, gave her a blessing with her confirmation, that she would be a Mother in Zion . This was a special blessing since the doctors had told her that she would never be able to have children and if she tried, it would probably kill her.Over the next few years, Ella started working in her father's surgery and at the Manaia County Council office. She still had to return to Otaki on regular occasions to have air pumped into her pleural cavities to keep the lungs suppressed and rest the upper lobes.
She met a Dutch immigrant named Gerardus Willem Brons at a mardi gras in Opunake and over the next few years their relationship developed. Gerry had been an officer in the Dutch army, fighting in Indonesia. In 1950, after the war, he came to New Zealand and was working as a farm labourer, when he met Ella. On the 16th of January 1954, in her father house in Manaia, they were married. Her father did not approve of the marriage and went and played golf during the ceremony. I think he thought that she could do better than to marry a Dutch immigrant.
Gerry worked as a farm labourer on a farm around Pihama and in June 1955, they purchased a small herd and started their first sharemilking job on Upper Oeo Road, south Taranaki. In 1960 they shifted to Lower Oeo Road where they stayed for 8 years. They were blessed with six children in seven years . In June 1968, they purchased their own dairy farm in Reporoa, located between Rotorua and Taupo. Ella named the farm "Manea"which is Rarotongan for beautiful. The winters were harsh but Ella's health remained satisfactory. The family became established and the children excelled at school and at sports in Reporoa and at Church College in Hamilton.
In 1974, Gerardus was baptized into the Mormon church . Later they were to serve church missions to Masterton ,Turangi and Taupo.The farm was sold to their eldest son, Gerard Jnr, who had previously purchased the neighbouring farm.As they neared retirement age,they travelled to Holland and Europe in 1980 and Rarotonga a few years later.
In 1996 , Ella's poor health took a turn for the worse. She was diagnosed as having a flare of her dormant pulmonary tuberculosis and was given a strong course of antituberculous drugs. After several months,her health returned. In March, 1997 she suddenly became ill and was diagnosed as having pancreatic cancer. Her last wish was to hold a family reunion , which was attended by her husband, 6 children and their spouses and the 31 grandchildren living at that time. She died 6 weeks later, on the 23rd of May 1997 , at her home in Reporoa. She was 67 years old.
Despite her life long poor health, perhaps caused by her prematurity, Ella was a survivor.She had survived prematurity, measles with complications, 2 episodes of pneumonia ,and tuberculosis.She was the last surviving bilateral pneumothorax patient in New Zealand. She achieved her greatest desire, to become a Mother in Zion. Her family was her life. Her faith in God was unshakeable. Her stubborness legendary. Her legacy Eternal.