David Malone Ellis

David Malone Ellis passed away peacefully at Aspirus Medford Hospital on Nov. 20, 2024.

David was born on Feb. 9, 1962 in Green Bay to Malone and Jean (Ruse) Ellis. When he was nearly two years old, the family moved back to Gilman where Jean and Malone grew up. David worked on the family dairy farm with his parents and his little sister, Nadine.

David attended school in Gilman; not one to sit behind a desk, he dropped out before he could graduate, probably much to the appreciation of his teachers who described him as a bit of a rabble-rouser even 20 years later, which he thought was hilarious.

He later travelled to Alamogordo, N.M., with some of his close friends from Gilman where they worked tarring roofs during the day and getting into trouble at night. It was there that he met the love of his life, Andie, who was just there to have a good time.

She must have found what she was looking for, because they shacked up together in Alamogordo for a while before moving back to Gilman and getting married in Hannibal on April 12, 1986. Shortly after, they became pregnant and moved to California to give their child more opportunities.

David did a wide variety of work in California, from working at the Grey Bears Recycling Center, to Laguna Seca, to owning his own business, Independent Trenching.

David wasn’t cut out for the city life, so the family moved back to Gilman in 2003. He worked for Wisconsin Truss and Marathon Cheese, retiring in 2021 after his cancer diagnosis.

David was an artist with heavy machinery. He could make a trencher or a backhoe dance with little

1962-2024

effort. He was also a whiz with a chainsaw and spent as much time as possible in the woods cutting down trees, which was one of his favorite hobbies. David loved hunting and was known to shoot varmints that nibbled on the house, most often in his underwear. He loved classic rock, funny t-shirts, a raunchy joke, and brandy and Mountain Dew. David showed his love by picking on you relentlessly, just ask his baby sister. David loved to fish with Dean, the most loyal friend that a man could ever ask for. His most recent favorite pastime was riding his Harley-Davidson trike with his beautiful wife and their friends, Kim and Jim.

He left us last Wednesday in the quiet hours of the morning with his soulmate by his side. David leaves behind his loving wife, Andie Ellis; daughters, Mandee Ellis and her husband, Michael Goodman, and Lauren Hernandez (she isn’t even legally adopted but she’s still the favorite?) and her husband, Jose; his saint of a mother, Jeanie; little sister, Nadine (Scott) Capelle; grandchildren, Dylan, Noah, Jacob, and Olivia; nephews, Colton and Eric; and in-laws Mike, Dave, Cindee, Cathy and Randy. Dean, Jean, George, Kimberly, Marty, Randy, Jim, Kim, Jeff, Doreen, Bob (Pam), Mike (Angela), and many others will miss him tremendously.

Waiting for him on the other side were his dad, Malone; in-laws, Barbara, Pat, Rod, Brian, Lee, and Jay; buddies Bob and Jerry; and many more.

Dad - we promise to live our lives in your honor every day. We promise to be resilient and selfsufficient; we promise to take care of each other and put the family before ourselves; we promise to laugh and tell jokes, especially at each others’ expense; we promise to look for signs of you everywhere. We will only miss you every second of every day. Please try to behave yourself until we’re with you again.

There just aren’t enough words to describe this man who was larger than life. To remember Dad, please have a good drink, take a moment in the woods, or spend time with your loved ones. He would have wanted it that way.

Paid Obituary 161608