Ellen DeBondt

Ellen DEBONDT Ellen DeBondt loved her life and lived each day to its fullest. Born Ellen Joan Wilson on July 27, 1966, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, she was the fifth and fi nal child of William (Bill) and Maria Lederle Wilson. During Ellen's childhood the family called many places home, but the most significant part of her child hood was spent in Pearl City and Kailua, Hawaii. After graduating high school in Kailua, Ellen traveled with her sister, Shirley, to Virginia where both attended George Mason University. Ellen became a regis tered nurse, first working at Si bley Hospital in D.C. then as a traveling nurse and later as a hos pice nurse in Northern Virginia. She enjoyed traveling, especially to Germany to visit her relatives. On one of her first adventures, she did a bicycle tour of New Zea land. Ellen's love of kayaking started when her Uncle Joe, took her paddling on the Potomac Riv er. In 1994, Ellen and Shirley de cided it was time to leave Virgin ia as Ellen wanted to live in Seat tle so she could kayak more. In Seattle she worked as a hospice nurse, then becoming an oncolo gy nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center be fore moving to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Pain Clinic. Wherever she worked she was very highly regarded due to her caring ways, her knowledge, competence, hard work and will ingness to go the ' extra mile' for her patients. Settled in Seattle, Ellen became involved with the Washington Kayak Club. In this time period Ellen and Ken met, fell in love and in August 1999 they wed on the beach at La Push. Ellen was an extraordinary ath lete. She loved the water and was involved in white water, surf and sea kayaking, as well as moun tain biking and trail running. Ellen and Ken won the masters pair division three years in a row competing in the 100 Mile Moun tains to Sound Relay. Most re cently she became an accom plished stand-up paddle boarder. Ellen and Ken had a special place in their heart for the Olympic Pe ninsula and especially surfing Crescent Bay. Consequently, in 2008 they bought a house over looking the bay and moved from Seattle. On the Peninsula Ellen worked for Olympic Medical Home Health, loving her new home and the North Olympic Peninsula life style. Ellen was always optimis tic, positive, patient and extreme ly generous. She gave to those around her, but saw herself as the receiver, blessed with a life that she loved. Ellen was killed instantly on Sun day, March 6, 2011, as she was be ginning her day of work, when her pickup was hit by a suspected drunk driver that veered into her lane. She is survived by her hus band, Ken, Rio, her faithful dog. Her parents, Bill and Maria Wilson, her sisters, Gabriele (Finn) and Shirley (Sullivan), brothers James and Raymond as well as nephews: Justin, Jason, Aaron, Devin, Lucas and nieces: Teresa, Amanda, Kelsey and Emily. Mourned by her in laws, mother Harriet and sisters Sedo ra, Debra and Becky as well as a huge circle of friends, all of whom will forever miss her presence. A memorial service will be held at Salt Creek County Park, near Joyce on Sunday March 20 2011 at 1:00 p.m.