😢🥺 Andrew was a great character in my life. He had no shame in trying to make someone smile. He was a free spirit and his laughter was infectious and truly one of a kind. I knew Andrew from 6th grade through our senior year of high school. I played middle school football with Andrew back when he had bright blond buzz cut hair. Growing up with Andrew I believe that most people we grew up with misunderstood him. Andrew was just another guy looking for someone to see his value and the potential he had. 

I’ll never forget when Andrew showed up to my wedding. I hadn’t seen Andrew in about 4 years since we graduated in 2014. He was sporting his long hair and ready to liven up the party. To this day, my wife’s and I’s big wedding photo that was our main wedding piece has Andrew written all over it 😂❤️ literally! Andrew had took a sharpie marker and had blackened out some of my wife’s teeth and gave her devil horns 😂. Drew an arrow through my head and a giant flavor flav clock chain on me. Andrew was killing the karaoke machine like he was a natural born ROCKER! And he was. The next morning 🤭 Andrew woke up in the garage to my wife and her mother having a huge fit about the wedding mural that I knew he drew on and thought was hilarious. Andrew was just going right along with them saying “omg seriously your drunk basturds! Which one of you degenerates would ruin a perfectly good wedding photo!” Telling my wife and her mom, “don’t you two worry I’m gonna get to the bottom of who did this this is completely ridiculous!” Andrew the very same day came to me telling me “hey man I fucked up im so sorry about the photo!” I told him not to worry because it was only paper!  4 days latter Andrew came out to my wife’s parents house where we were staying at that time and he had a big cardboard envelope. Andrew doesn’t normally come around and I believe at that time lived in Bloomington or somewhere decently far from us.  Andrew looked to my wife and her mother to tell them with a big smile on his face “ALRIGHT ladies I found that SOB that ruined the wedding photo!” At this time they had already figured out it was him. Andrew had gotten the photo off of facebook and had went to a photo developing store and paid 50$ to get a new one for us. No one had asked him to and I also told him not to worry about. But that’s the kind of man Andrew was. He always loved to have an amazing time and sometimes we all take things a little too far. But he always made things right. He even told my wife the one he drew on looked better and had more flair 😂. Their was never a moment around Andrew where you couldn’t not be smiling or laughing. 

He would randomly msg me on facebook through the years, telling me he was gonna be a dad and how happy he was. I had kids and he would ask me about what being a dad is like and asking me tips and tricks. He told me how nervous he was and you could definitely tell he was ALL IN… sometimes he would reach out to me just to vent about being sad… his sister Aerial’s unexpected passing really weighed heavy on him. Sometimes he’d call when he was highly emotional and we talked for hours and hours about her. He would often tell me that he always regretted how he would pick on her or treat her around others. He always said it wasn’t because he didn’t like her but that he always picked on who he loves or who he likes. Trust me he’d pick on me too often but as a guy I understand that type of affection. Andrew would be deeply sorrowed telling me he wished he could have sat down with Ariel to got the chance to explain that to her. 😢 

Andrew as a person and a man, he was a rare flame that most people were unlucky to miss out on. He was wild, he was bold, he was different then most people, but he was a damn good friend, he was a good man, he was a DAMN good father from what I’ve seen, herd, and gathered. Tonight I looked at pictures of him holding his kids and you can see in his eyes the passion love and joy he had holding them. He loved his family he created of his own. He would genuinely speak of his wife with the highest regard of his love. You could tell that having her in his life completed him at a man. The last time him and I spoke you could tell he was proud of what he had and he voiced his ambitions for the future ahead. 

It hurts deep in my chest to see this obituary. Tonight I sat looking at my wedding photo of the one he drew and had a beer for him and looked through our old messages. I have to say the tears don’t feel real. I wish I could just hear ole Ellis laugh one more time… 

I’m deeply sorry for your family’s loss and hope you all the best for your family. Losing a rare free spirit like him is truly devastating and I still can’t believe he’s no longer with us. 😢 I’ll never forget this man and I promise to always carry on his memories.  

Please let me know if there’s anything the family needs! Also if there will be a “wake” or funeral service I didn’t happen to see anything on any services. 

REST IN PEACE: AIE❤️☮️