Ellis, Neal Robert
Passed away at the young age of 46 on Wednesday April 6th, 2016 in Barrie. Neal will be sadly missed by his mother Bette Maurino, his siblings Mark and Dennise Ellis, his nephew John Ellis as well as his beloved dog Tumble.
Over his lifetime, Neal shared his heart with many dogs whom he loved deeply. He found great peace in long walks in the forest and nature with his dogs. Neal was an avid reader of a diverse collection of topics and a writer of poetry and stories. A man of many talents, he also excelled at being a master tile setter.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday May 14th at Ferndale Banquet Hall, 24 Ferndale Industrial Drive, Barrie from 1 to 4pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Barrie Humane Society www.barrie.ontariospca.ca/barrie-home.html or the Barrie Food Bank www.barriefoodbank.org would be appreciated.
Karen McCagherty
Posted on: Thursday, April 28, 2016Neal was my upstairs neighbour on Frances Street.
We moved in basically at the same time. He became a great friend as well as neighbour and we had many amazing “over the fence” conversations.
He taught me how to solder, and how to use power tools and during an extremely cold winter he presented me with a heater for Christmas to try and keep my apartment at a decent temperature.
I think of him often and fondly. His kindness and friendship will always be very special to me.
My heartfelt sympathy goes out to the Ellis Family,
With love, Karen
Lisa Thompson
Posted on: Thursday, April 28, 2016Neil will be greatly missed and never forgotten ?
Sherri Kesak (nee Pascoe) (aka Shari Lynn)
Posted on: Friday, April 29, 2016Neal rented from us next to our Storage facility (all Seasons Storage) on Ferndale Drive in Barrie several years ago, he was super nice and friendly and a hard worker. Neal had rented a storage unit from us and my husband Fred was was talking to Neal about tearing down one of our rental properties next door to the business, but Neal talked my husband into renting it to him although Fred said its not very livable inside, Neal said if Fred bought the building supplies, Neal would make it livable as he was a contractor so Fred said to Neal if you really want it then I will rent it to you cheap, so Fred bought the supplies Neal wanted and Fred rented to him cheap to help him out. Shortly after Fred and I had just bought our house in 2012 and I needed someone to tile our back splash in our kitchen so Fred had asked Neal if he would help out the ‘Old Lady’ by tiling our back splash… when Neal showed up to the door he expected to see an old lady but saw me. lol we laughed about it. Neal did such a good job on the back splash I was so pleased that i called my husband up at work and asked him to pay him double what he charged us as I felt he deserved it so my husband did. Neal moved out of our rental after about a year but had given me his card if I ever needed any other work done, which I did. I thought of Neal after often as he reminded me of a small boy who was also named Neal that i use to walk to school with in Innisfil back as a very small child, maybe in kindergarten or grade 1, He was the same age as me and in my class, but only for a short time. I remember this skinny blonde boy (I think his hair may have even been close to white as a kid) who was super nice, soft spoken and like to play with sticks walking home with me only just a short distance as their house was a tiny house just steps from Goodfellow Public School on the 9th line of Innisfil. Neal told me he lived there with his mom. I remember him having a younger brother Mark, who may have only been 1 or 2 at the time who would sometimes come and greet him on the way home and he was so small and cute! The walks only lasted a short time (i believe less than a school year) as Neal and his family moved away. After recalling this memory I meant to ask Neal if that little boy was him and thought I would the next time I call him up to have some work done. I last spoke to Neal last summer when I called him to see if he was available to fix the tiling in our shower floor and to tile my moms back splash… he was reluctant as he told me that he was soooo busy he wasn’t sure when he would have the time as his schedule was full for the next couple of months. We needed the shower fixed then as it was leaking so it was a bit of a priority and couldn’t wait and my mom didn’t want to wait but I left it that I would call him again in the fall if there was something else we needed done. I had forgotten to ask Neal if that little boy was him as a child while on the phone. I’m shocked and saddened to read of his passing as so is Fred. Also in reading his obituary I noticed he has a brother Mark and Neal is the same age as me, I just turned 47 on April 21 this year and Neal would have been 47 in May of this year. I’m almost sure that Neal was that little boy I use to walk home and to school with. He was such a gentle, super nice guy who loved to laugh at my jokes and who was very talented at his work. He will be greatly missed but fondly remembered. Rest in Peace Neal, the Lord took you way too soon.
Mom
Posted on: Saturday, June 4, 2016Neal is still around me all the time! A picture of him when he was a baby was sent to me over 2 weeks ago by my daughter, Dennise; to ask if that was Neal? It was – she was making up the picture boards for his celebration of life. I looked at that email once and it is now down about 7 emails.
Guess what??? When I open hotmail that email pops right to the top and opens without me touching anything. When he was a baby about 4 mths old and our dog had stuck his nose up to look at him..maybe where he learned to love dogs so much.
One of the many things that have happed since he passed.
I loved him no matter what and miss him terribly.