Joseph Ellis

Joseph M. Ellis (Joe), 76, of Judith Gap, Montana (formerly of Billings, MT, Center, TX, Detroit, and Grosse Pointe Park, MI), passed away March 12, 2024, after not feeling well and being taken to the hospital by ambulance. Joe suffered cardiac arrest and passed at the Harlowton Hospital. In old age, he suffered from diabetes but still led an active life particularly serving as Chaplain of the American Legion Judith Gap Post 70.

He was born November 8, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan, and was the eldest child, of nine born to Louis H. Ellis and Celine M. Burns Ellis. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Barbara Ellis, Margaret Semelsberger, and Anne Ellis, and his brother Raymond Ellis, of Michigan.

Joe is survived by his son, Jason (Jay) Ellis and Jay's spouse Jen Huff who were the joy of his life. He is also survived by 3 granddaughters, Brooke Ellis, Haley (Braylon) Randall, and Avery Ellis, and two great-grandchildren, Osyris and Octavia Randall. Joe's siblings include Christine Ellis of Winston Salem, NC, Mary Kruszynski of Bedford TX, Susan Ellis Rice of Leland, NC, and brother James Ellis of Detroit, MI. He is also survived by his estranged wife Peg (Mark) Frey, and the Moriarty, Schafnitz, Busch, and Ogren families together with numerous nieces and nephews from both sides of the family.

Joe loved living in Grosse Pointe Park as a child and the freedom living in a safe neighborhood gave him. He rode his bike down to the community park on Lake Pointe where he could swim, and spend long hours on the pier fishing and cavorting with his cousin Dave Wade and friends.

Joe graduated from St. Ambrose in 1966. Before he graduated, Joe had a paper route, delivering papers on his bicycle, and once a few years older, he began working at the Parkstone Market on Van Dyke Ave in Detroit, MI, which was owned by his aunts, uncles, and his father, Louis (Lou) Ellis.

After graduating high school, Joe chose to enlist in the Army tank division and was sent to serve in Germany where he was stationed during the Vietnam War. Apparently, the United States Military did deploy a significant number of tanks but they were not ideally suited for the wet and soggy terrain thus Joe didn't see Vietnam.

Once Joe returned from Germany, he soon met Peg and they opened a small art gallery near the Parkstone Market in Indian Village, Detroit. Once she brought Joe to MT, it wasn't just her that he loved, but life in MT too. In 1973, they had a son Jason L. Ellis and over the next few years, Peg and Joe decided Montana would be a safer place to raise Jay.

In 1977, they packed up everything they had in a new Dodge pickup and moved to Montana. Joe had several jobs at grocery stores, the most important one being at Lockwood Superette from 1979-1992, which was just down the street from Jay's school where he would walk to until his mother Peg would get off work and pick him up.

During Jay's childhood, Joe coached Jay's baseball teams and was very heavy into hunting with his friends Steve and Nathan Sayler, Ben George, Gene Busch, Bruce DeVries, and whoever he felt safe showing the secret Elk hunting spots.

After a 2-year separation, Peg and Joe were divorced in 1991. He started training and raising both German Shorthairs and English Pointers for bird hunting under the signage RCreek Lazy Hearts Kennels.

Joe found a home in Judith Gap, MT, and a job at Hawkeye Hunting Club of Center, TX. He spent his winters in Center, TX, guiding dudes bird hunting during the day and bartending in the evenings. When summer came he would load up all of his hunting dogs and head back to Judith Gap MT, and spend his summers working for local farmers/ranchers and training his dogs for the next season.

When he paid off his home in 2012, he quit going to TX and made Judith Gap his final stand enjoying the solitude that it had to offer after all those years in customer service. Joe was proud of being a part of the American Legion for 23 years. He spent the last 12 years of his life helping friends and family cut up wild game and beef. Being an outdoorsman, he spent much time in the back hills of Judith Gap scoping out elk and sharing this with his grandchildren and son.