The world lost a bright light, a fireball of energy and a devoted friend in Ellie Mae, the Weimaraner whose loving heart was strong even as her body failed her on April 15, 2024. She was 14 years and two months old.

It is estimated she was born in February 2010. She was found as an emaciated puppy at the Metter Animal Shelter in Metter, Georgia. Named Shurlee, she was flown in a two-seat ultralight airplane by the nonprofit Pilots-n-Paws, under the generous care of Pilot James Kleen, to Birmingham, Alabama, a stop on her way to her forever home. Thanks to the Altamaha Animal Clinic, the Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society and the Weimaraner Rescue of the South, Shurlee was saved and went on to live a wonderful life. She was adopted from Great Lakes Weimaraner Rescue (GLWR) in the fall of 2010 and remained at Joy’s side, literally — a classic Velcro Weimaraner — for the rest of her life. GLWR chose to rename Shurlee and selecteed Amelia for the famed pilot Amelia Earhart because they both had extraordinary experiences in flight. Joy selected a new name, Ellie Mae, because it was similar sounding but easier for her to say.

Ellie Mae established her expertise early on in several areas:

· Squeaker removal — with near-surgical precision, she could remove the squeaker from any toy. Sometimes, one could not tell where the toy had been opened but that the plastic noise maker was lying nearby. Ellie Mae often displayed this skill in amazingly fast time — three minutes from new toy arrival to squeaker extraction.

· Ball retrieving — Ellie Mae loved to play fetch, and she often demonstrated her incredible athletic ability while playing fetch. She jumped to great heights, ran as fast as a Cheetah and covered long distances to retrieve the ball, only for the chance to chase the ball again. And she would not stop — a perpetual motion machine. Chuck-it was her favorite brand of fetch toy, especially the whistler.

· Leaning — She was a friendly dog, especially to humans, and she was sure to gain each human friend’s attention by leaning into them strongly until they couldn’t help but pet her. She treated each encounter as a victory — once she gained a human’s attention, she would look up with a broad Weimaraner smile, pant a few times, wiggle and wag her tail, and lean in harder.

· Keen scent detection — No stick of butter in a 50-mile radius was safe with Ellie Mae around. She also had an extraordinary detection record of finding dead things and feces.

Joy sought formal training on how to be Ellie Mae’s owner from her friend Ruth Marquardt at Bark Busters Training, as well as through classes at Winnegamie Dog Club (WDC). Ellie Mae was a very well behaved dog. She and Joy took basic obedience classes, rally, tricks, agility and scent work classes at WDC. She was the perfect demonstration dog during the many years that Joy taught puppy, puppy grad and beginner obedience there too. She earned AKC Canine Good Citizen designation, and was AKC Purebred Alternative Listing (PALS) just in case they wanted to join AKC competitions. Later on, Ellie Mae learned less formally about field work, specifically pheasant hunting. For several years, she had the opportunity to hunt with her friends. Retrieving her first pheasant was one of the most euphoric moments of her life, and she couldn’t wait to do it again and again.

Ellie Mae was a steady companion to several foster Weimaraners through GLWR, specifically Vayah, Trigger and Callie Blu. She was especially close to Callie Blu, as well as her friend Neko, the Newfoundland, and her owner Kayla. She learned many cat-like qualities from her feline roommates Jelly Bean (2015), Figaro (2020), Ginger, Baryshnikov and Penelope.

Her memory will be held dear to the many people who she shined her light upon, especially her owner, Joy Wick, her family and friends, and kind neighbors in the Pierce Park neighborhood of Appleton, and the Astor East River neighborhood in Green Bay.