Evelyn Ellingson arrived in Oak Ridge in early 1943 when many of the site’s facilities were still being constructed. Ellingson worked in the accounting department for Tennessee Eastman, where she made $135 a month.
Since there was still no place to live when she arrived, Ellingson and a friend commuted to Oak Ridge from Fountain City every day. When the dormitories were finally ready, she moved into Beacon Hall on Central Avenue in Oak Ridge. After the war, Ellingson remained in Oak Ridge and married her husband, Robert Ellingson, also a Manhattan Project veteran, with whom she had two daughters.