After more than 30 years of involvement, Sibyl Ellis is helping her daughter, Marcia Tillotson, close the last business owned by a family deeply rooted in mid-Michigan.

Someplace Special Hallmark, at 2205 S. Mission St., will close by the end of the year.

Marcia Tillotson, owner of the Hallmark store, checks out a customer Tuesday afternoon at the register. The store will close in the next few weeks. “For the first time since college I’ll have to put my resume together,” Tillotson said. (Neil Blake/Staff Photographer)

But the family’s ties were not limited to business.

Sibyl was the city’s mayor in 1977, 1979 and 1985 and served on the city commission for nine years. Arthur Ellis served as interim president of Central Michigan University in 1975, again in 1985 and as university president from 1986 to 1991.

“When we came here, part of the thing was to get the university and the city to work more together,” Sibyl said.

No business on Christmas

The family’s first store was a Someplace Special Hallmark downtown.

Tillotson suggested purchasing the store in college — the beginning of the family affair. Tillotson and her brother, Mark Ellis, had all their children work in the stores.

In the early 1990s, the family opened a high-end children’s clothing store called “Siblings” that closed five years later because it was more than the family could handle.

“The town was a lot smaller and, if you had a local business, you were involved,” Tillotson said.

By that time, they purchased the Hallmark on Mission Street and incorporated a floral part into the traditional store. That grew into Four Seasons Floral in Shepherd, owned by Mark Ellis.

The family involvement in the business was nearly universal and often overwhelming.

“No talking about business on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Christmas Day, we couldn’t talk about the day-after sale until we left Mom and Dad’s house,” Tillotson said.

Working for the community

The family felt political involvement was essential for the success of a small business.

Tillotson served on the Downtown Business Association as president and saw the creation of the recycling center.

Sibyl helped negotiate the waste water treatment plant expansion and organized paving several local streets while she was mayor.

“I’m not gonna say I did it, no. Was I maybe the leader of the pack?” Sibyl said. “I was the first woman mayor, in fact, there were not very many in the state at that time.”

In spite of the economic troubles Arthur faced as university president, he secured funding to build the Industrial Engineering and Technology building.

“It wasn’t really a time to be building things,” he said.

He was one of the first university presidents in Michigan who did not have a doctorate degree, but said he felt he was well-equipped to handle budget problems.

The Ancient Honorable Stone Woman sculpture, on the corner of Preston and Franklin, commemorated Arthur’s work in co-creating a state arts commission during former Gov. John Engler’s tenure.

He spent many years in the state government after leaving CMU, serving in the Michigan Department of Commerce and as superintendent of schools. Arthur was also involved in the state quarter design committee.

“The reason you have a state quarter with the Great Lakes and Michigan in the middle is because I was appointed chair,” he said.

In Lansing, Arthur worked with Interim University President Kathy Wilbur. She moved from vice president of Public Affairs to interim president like Arthur did.

Arthur has not returned to campus since he was replaced as president.

“There’s only room for one president at a time,” he said.

Change, change, change

Many of the changes the family has seen in the community are not related to changes they were involved with.

“In terms of growth, it’s tremendous,” Sibyl said.

Mount Pleasant became home to chain stores such as Meijer and Wal-Mart ­— the reason small stores such as Something Special Hallmark are going out of business.

“The big box stores have killed everything. That’s the easiest way to explain it,” Sibyl said.

Tillotson is the owner of the Hallmark on Mission Street and is charged with the task of closing it.

“It was a very, very difficult decision when you’ve put thirty years of your life into the same business. It’s hard to say it’s time to go,” she said.

E-mail the author: Maryellen Tighe