Ellen Tamm
Ellen Tamm was an art director with the advertising agency Rives, Smith, Baldwin and Carlberg (now Richards/Carlberg) in the early 80's. I worked with her at least one time on a shoot for M. W. Kellogg in May of 1981. Less than eight months later she was dead. She was murdered by the infamous serial killer Coral Eugene Watts, reported to have died in prison yesterday, closing the final chapter on this sad and senseless tale.
Ellen's death was first ruled a suicide. She was found hanging from a tree in the Montrose area of Houston on a cold January morning in 1982. She was an avid jogger, logging three miles each day. On a cold morning she would wrap her head with a tube top to keep her face and ears warm. It was this tube top that acted as a noose, suspending her from the small tree. The police seemed to think that she might have hanged herself.
Those of us who knew Ellen thought this suicide ruling was ridiculous. Both her parents and other relatives came to her defense and implored the Houston Police Department to investigate further. This was to no avail and the suicide ruling remained official until the truth came out when Watts confessed later that year to killing Ellen and eleven other women in Texas (11) and Michigan (1).
You can read more about this case and the many others connected to Watts here:
http://www.officialcoldcaseinvestigations.com/showthread.php?p=9618
In the years following Ellen's death the Art Directors Club of Houston (ADCH) created a special scholarship for students naming it the Ellen Tamm Memorial Scholarship. Ellen was a former board of director of the organization whose members work in the fields of advertising, design, illustration, photography and multimedia. For many years the scholarship awarded an internship for a deserving student at one of Houston's advertising agencies or design firms. The scholarship has been discontinued but the ADCH still maintains the Ellen Tamm Memorial Fund to provide other programs for students. In her remembrance the ADCH renamed its annual student show of advertising, design, illustration, photography and multimedia the Ellen Tamm Student Show.
Ellen's death was first ruled a suicide. She was found hanging from a tree in the Montrose area of Houston on a cold January morning in 1982. She was an avid jogger, logging three miles each day. On a cold morning she would wrap her head with a tube top to keep her face and ears warm. It was this tube top that acted as a noose, suspending her from the small tree. The police seemed to think that she might have hanged herself.
Those of us who knew Ellen thought this suicide ruling was ridiculous. Both her parents and other relatives came to her defense and implored the Houston Police Department to investigate further. This was to no avail and the suicide ruling remained official until the truth came out when Watts confessed later that year to killing Ellen and eleven other women in Texas (11) and Michigan (1).
You can read more about this case and the many others connected to Watts here:
http://www.officialcoldcaseinvestigations.com/showthread.php?p=9618
In the years following Ellen's death the Art Directors Club of Houston (ADCH) created a special scholarship for students naming it the Ellen Tamm Memorial Scholarship. Ellen was a former board of director of the organization whose members work in the fields of advertising, design, illustration, photography and multimedia. For many years the scholarship awarded an internship for a deserving student at one of Houston's advertising agencies or design firms. The scholarship has been discontinued but the ADCH still maintains the Ellen Tamm Memorial Fund to provide other programs for students. In her remembrance the ADCH renamed its annual student show of advertising, design, illustration, photography and multimedia the Ellen Tamm Student Show.
Labels: ADCH, Art Director, Baldwin, Carlberg, Coral Eugene Watts, Ellen Tamm, murder, Rives, Smith
posted by Ron Scott, Photographer at 1:24 PM
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