Joseph Ellsworth Sellers was born in Camden, NJ, the first child to George (aka Mike) Ellsworth and Lillian Salome Sellers of Runnemede, NJ. Joe enlisted in the Navy in 1947, hoping to attend flight school. After learning the program was canceled, he volunteered for the submarine service. "If I can't go up, I will go down" he was known to say. He qualified in submarines and served on the USS Diablo (SS-479) and the USS Sennet (SS-408). He left the Navy after 10 years on February 29 th , 1956 (Leap Year).

From there, he pursued various opportunities, ending up in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and then on to NBTL (Naval Boiler and Turbine Lab), later renamed The Naval Ship Engineering Center (NAVSEC). While at NAVSEC he traveled the world repairing diesel engines on submarines and worked with several foreign Navies (Iran, Turkey, Italy) training them on submarines given to them by the USA. He transferred to the San Diego office of NAVSEC where he worked until retirement.

Joe had several interests, one of which was flying. He first obtained his private pilot's license before moving on to a commercial license, single and multi-engine rating. And last, but not least, he was an avid NASCAR fan – traveling year-after-year to the Daytona 500 where he met up with his "back east" friends.

Joe is survived by his wife Betty of San Diego, four daughters (Patricia Jankauskas of Pittsgrove, New Jersey, Kathleen Sellers of Silver Spring, Maryland, Stacy Paschoal of Mission Viejo, California, Megan Schmidt of San Diego, California) along with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.