Ellen Paula Kolb was born in Watertown, Wisconsin, on October 11, 1930 - the oldest of four children of Oscar L. Kolb, a Lutheran schoolteacher, and Ruth (Schreiner) Kolb. Ellen attended elementary school at St. John's Lutheran in Watertown, where her father taught, graduating in 1944 as valedictorian of her class. She graduated from Northwestern Lutheran Preparatory High School in 1948, remaining in Watertown to graduate with her class after her family moved to Missouri in 1947 for another teaching position. From then on, Ellen had "left the nest," other than for summer and holiday visits.

After graduating from high school, Ellen left Watertown to attend Concordia Lutheran Teacher's College in River Forest, Illinois, from 1948-1950. Due to a severe teacher shortage, she was awarded a teaching certificate after two years of college and accepted an offer to teach elementary grades the following school year in a two-room schoolhouse in Hannover Township, North Dakota (population 34).

Before she left for North Dakota, Ellen helped move her parents and siblings from Missouri to Danville, Illinois, where her father had accepted a position as principal of Trinity Lutheran School. When the Kolb family arrived in Danville, a delegation of young men from the congregation met them to help move them into the principal's residence. Among them was Paul Thiede, oldest son of one of the congregation's oldest families, who took one look at Ellen and was smitten - determined that she was the woman he would marry. Ellen, who had experienced independence and enjoyed it, was less certain about marriage and commitment. When she left for North Dakota, she agreed that Paul and she could correspond "as friends".

Years later, Ellen still recalled her arrival in tiny Hannover and her first sight of the coal-burning stove in the corner of her classroom - an iron monster she battled the whole year to keep temperatures above freezing. When the coal delivery once failed to arrive, she broke up furniture to feed the stove. Thereafter the coal arrived on time. Meanwhile, Paul found the separation from Ellen so difficult that he made his way from Danville through the snow and ice to Hannover by rail, bus, air and automobile for an Easter visit in March 1951. His determination impressed Ellen almost as much as the residents of Hannover and the surrounding farms, who delighted in minding the business of their pretty young teacher.

After a three-year correspondence, during which Ellen moved on to teach in Janesville, Minnesota, (population 1300) and Paul worked for the Electric Eye Corporation in Danville while completing his Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Illinois, Ellen and Paul were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Danville on June 28, 1953. Ellen continued to teach elementary grades in Danville public schools, with breaks when daughters Lisa and Paula were born in 1955 and 1959, completing her degree in elementary education during those breaks.

When Paul accepted an engineering position at Tracor Instruments in Austin, Texas, in 1972, Ellen worked for the Austin Public Library for several years and then in the Driver's License Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety until she retired.

Ellen and Paul loved to travel, especially to explore National Parks and Monuments throughout the United States. Lisa and Paula were included in those adventures from very young ages. Ellen practiced her educational techniques on the girls, teaching them new "vocabulary words" and observation skills as a distraction while they hiked (which the girls did not always do willingly). The family's progress up and down mountain trails was marked initially by shouts of "ROOT!", "SWITCHBACK!" and "LICHEN!", eventually progressing to "PHOTOSYNTHESIS" and "SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP!".

Ellen and Paul continued to travel in retirement, expanding their range to include foreign countries and parts of the world where Paula and her husband, Wakie, were posted as diplomats. They also loved participating in service projects around the world through Elderhostel, from bird banding for scientific studies to restoration projects in National Parks.

In addition to her love of travel, Ellen was known for her beautiful handwriting, her notoriously long but humorous and newsy Christmas letters, her puckish sense of humor, her love of bargains and "freebies" (which she stockpiled in great quantities), her indifferent (and occasionally dangerous) cooking, her dislike of housekeeping and disinterest in "ladies activities" of all kinds, her insistence on reading every word of each daily newspaper and refusing to part with said paper until the task had been completed (even after macular degeneration slowed the task considerably), her preference for "going somewhere" rather than sitting still, and for being inseparable from Paul, who was equally inseparable from her until he died on July 3, 2021 - five days after they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. Ellen rejoined him in heaven on June 23, 2022 - five days before their 69th wedding anniversary. (Inseparable in death, as in life.)

They are survived by their daughters, Lisa Schuster and Paula Thiede, son-in-law David Schuster, sisters-in-law Sarah Kolb and Susan Kolb, and numerous nieces and nephews. In heaven, Ellen rejoins Paul, her brothers Jim and Bob, her sister Donna, and her son-in-law Charles Wakefield Martin.

A memorial service is being planned. For those who may wish to designate a memorial, the family recommends a gift to the National Park Foundation or Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1500 W Anderson Lane, Austin Texas 78757.