According to her obituary, Frances Huguenin Ellis was born in Macon, Georgia on August 11, 1926, the daughter of Marshall Johnston Ellis and Martha Plant Ellis Ross. She died in Columbus, Georgia on April 12, 2003. She was a graduate of St. Catherine's School in Richmond, Virginia, and Duke University. She received her MA in English Literature from Columbia University in New York City.

Francis Ellis was a member of the Episcopal Church and served nine years as Associate and Director of Education in churches. She also lived and worked in Cambridge, England as a member of a Christian philosophers and scientists engaged in research into Christian communal living with attention to nature. After moving to Columbus in 1963, she taught at the Fort Benning Branch of The American University. She was a founder and co-owner of The Vintner restaurant on Wynnton Road. She was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church, the Colonial Dames of America, and the Columbus Junior League. She established the Frances H. Ellis Art Endowment at Columbus State University.