After two decades of meting out justice to the residents of New Berlin, a local judge is ready to turn in her robes.

Mary Ann Ellis was born and raised in New York City. “Most of my childhood was spent in Brooklyn,” she said. She also explained not many people know she is an identical twin.

Following high school, Ellis said she immediately headed into the work force, where she found a job in a large insurance firm. Being a secretary paid off, Ellis explained, as the phone turned out to be the connection between her and the man she would marry.

“Allan called and we talked a little, then he called again and we became pen pals of sorts,” Ellis said. Before long, Ellis said, she found herself traveling across the country to California to meet him. Mary Ann then moved to California, and she and Allan spent four years in the Santa Monica area.

“We decided to move back east. I missed my family, and he was raised in the New York area too,” said Ellis. “We moved back and ended up getting a house three blocks from where I grew up, where my parents were,” she said.