During those early years, several occupations were lacking in the community, and for several, Ellis also served as undertaker for the area. Today, one of his caskets, over 50 years old, remains at the Okeechobee Funeral Home, an interesting bit of memorabilia of Okeechobee’s history. During World War 1, Ellis served as chairman for the Second Red Cross War Fund Campaign, which was a week-long fund drive that climaxed with a parade. In that parade, Ellis was dressed as Uncle Sam and Faith as the Statue of Liberty. A May 1918 newspaper report gives the following account:

"Bringing up the rear, followed by nearly all the boys in the county, came chairman E.M. Meserve on a donkey. Following the parade, he rode that donkey right into the Movie Hall where he continued to kick at the Kaiser."

During the devastating killer hurricane in September 1928, high winds took of the second floor of the Okeechobee Hardware building. Ellis and Faith then built a home in the 1299 block on South Parrott Avenue, where she still resides today. Ellis made the necessary repairs to the store, converting it into a one story building, and went on with business as usual. In the early 40’s, he served on the building committee formed to construct Okeechobee’s first hospital. During the war years he was instrumental in obtaining the materials for construction during a time when they were in short supply.

He was one of the charter members of the Board of Directors of the Okeechobee County Bank (now the Barnett Bank of Lake Okeechobee), a position he held from the time the bank was formed in 1943, until his death some 35 years later. It has been 12 years since Ellis Marquis Meserve born on July 17, 1895, died on November 16, 1978, at the age of 83. That young bank clerk with less than a year to live at the beginning of 1915 survived for 64 years after arriving in Okeechobee, and was instrumental for many years in forming and shaping the future and growth of the community.

His business, Okeechobee Hardware and Furniture, 321 S.W. Park Street, still is conducting business as usual, the oldest continuously-operating enterprise in Okeechobee. "My only regret," Ellis said in 1977, "is that I never kept a journal over the year. Many important events have occurred that I now have forgotten.

Ellis had a plaque in the store which he loved to bring to people’s attention. One could not help but feel this was the motto by which he lived: "Everything cometh to he who waiteth, so long as he who waiteth, worketh like hell while he waiteth."