Elderrean "Ellie" (Yost) Paules was born in Newville, Pennsylvania on April 5, 1949 to Frederick Yost and Treva (Nelson) Yost and was the youngest of eleven siblings.

Ellie attended school in Newville where she loved going to football games on Friday nights. She said she never cared much for the game, she went to see the boys! She also participated in various school theatre productions and sang in the school choir. She graduated from Big Spring High School in 1967. Around this time, when she went to take her driver's test and failed the eye exam, she learned that she was losing her sight like her two older sisters.  After graduation, she attended business school and briefly worked as a secretary in Harrisburg PA before attending the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind after which she continued her education and pursued a career in physical and massage therapy, later working as a masseuse.

She met her first husband, Kenneth Wood while they were both attending the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind and they settled in New Brighton Pennsylvania and welcomed their son Hallock during hurricane Agnes in 1972. Ken passed in 1978 and Ellie and Hal stayed in New Brighton. During that time she got her first guide dog named Duval through the New Brighton Lion's Club and worked at Genesis Health Club. She lived fearlessly and never let anything stop her. Before her husband passed and was in a care facility, she would visit him no matter what, even during the incredible blizzard of 1978 when all travel by car was impossible so she and Hal walked over three miles through snow drifts that were as high as ten feet tall, just to see her man. She was always independent and loved to travel, often journeying with Hal by Greyhound bus to visit family in Pennsylvania or friends in Texas or California. She was always up for adventure and good time.

In 1984 she began training as a snack bar operator and moved herself and her son to Harrisburg, PA where she began running her first snack bar/restaurant at the William Penn State Museum, working from 1984-1986. After that she owned and operated Ellie's Snackbar and Newstand in the state capital building of Harrisburg, PA for 18 years where she was well known by everyone from the mail room operators to the Governor himself. In 1991, a Hollywood crew began filming the movie "The Distinguished Gentleman" at the state capital building and not only did Ellie get to meet the star of the move, Eddie Murphy, she got to be in a scene with him. In the scene, Eddie stops by Ellie's Newstand to buy some gum. Eddie greets her by saying, "Ellie!" and she says, "How you doing, Congressman?"

During this time Ellie became a member of the Lower Paxton Lionness Club doing a lot of community service work. She was also heavily involved in the Pennsylvania Blind Concessionaires, serving as president. Ellie and her guide dog Murphy traveled to work on their own, riding the bus to and from the capital building every day. On the commute, she met and fell in love with her bus driver, Herbert Paules. They were married in 2000. They loved to spend time with friends at their campground in Donegal, PA and traveling as much as possible. They purchased an RV and in 2003 she retired so that she and Herb could do more traveling. For the next three years they traveled up and down the east coast and all over the southern states including spending time in Mississippi in 2005 to help with the recovery efforts after hurricane Katrina.

In 2006, after Herb passed away, Ellie moved to Connecticut to live with her son and his family. Only a week after she arrived, she welcomed her last grandchild, Maryn and spent the next few months being smothered with baby and toddler kisses. In April of 2007 she moved into Monarca Place in Middletown PA. The building was available to all with disabilities but had been constructed for the deaf. On the day she moved in, Mom and I were walking through the entry way and met a woman named Judy who was deaf. Judy approached us and I told mom that a woman was coming to say hi. Judy began signing while mom listened intently. And then mom started talking but Judy couldn't hear her. I thought, Oh boy this is going to be interesting! But you know what? Mom did learn some sign language and Judy learned how to interact with mom and they became not only neighbors but friends, who moved in within a week of each other and also passed away within a week of each other. Ellie made many friends at Monarca Place as well as Marino Manner across the parking lot. They often talked, ate together, and helped one another.

She joined the Middletown Lion's Club and was an active member for many years, serving as president for a few years as well. She participated in events like the Middletown Regatta, Tag Sales, Trick or Treat on Main Street and collected items like aluminum can tops and eye glasses for her club. Her final project was collecting over 500 pounds of plastic in order to have it recycled into a bench. The bench was recently presented to her and she was overjoyed at knowing that she was able to complete her final project for her beloved Lion's club. The bench will eventually be placed at the Riverfront in Middletown and will always serve as a reminder to us of her hard work and commitment to the Lion's Club.

Ellie was completely devoted to her favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. She also loved the Pittsburgh Pirates and was recently following the UCONN Women's Basketball Team.

Some of her favorite foods were macaroni and cheese, trefoil girl scout cookies, TGIF Honey BBQ wings. Her favorite drinks were black coffee, Pepsi and Apple Crown Royal. Every year we bought her chocolate covered cherries for Christmas. El loved to listen to books on tape and was a fan of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. She was an avid knitter, creating everything from dish towels and booties to sweaters and blankets. She was a proud member of the Red Hat Society and always wore pants with pockets and carried purses with a million zippers so that she always had places to put things and she always knew exactly where everything was. She was a sentimental collector. We recently found a stack of napkins tucked into her jewelry cabinet. We were confused at first until we realized she had saved napkins from all of all of her grandkid's themed birthday parties. Ellie loved to talk and laugh, and yes even flirt a little bit. When she got tickled it was impossible not to laugh with her. Her laugh was definitely infectious and was one of our favorite things about her. She laughed with abandon and pure delight.

Ellie's journey with cancer was just part of her journey. She never focused on the bad. She always had an incredible sense of hope and we believe this hope is what kept her healthy for so long. At her last doctor's appointment, her oncologist said that she had done better than 99.99999% of the patients that had the same type of treatment. She never complained, never whined, never gave up. She was feisty, independent and fierce all the way to the end.

She is preceded in death by her parents Fred and Treva, brothers Leonard Yost, Brad Yost, Ray Yost and William Yost, sisters Bobette Lobaugh and Ruth Anna Gilbert and spouses Kenneth Wood and Herbert Paules.  She is survived by her son Hal Yost, his wife Alicia Yost and three grandchildren, Laila, Carter and Maryn Yost.

A celebration of life will be held on Thursday, November 30, 2023, at Portland Memorial Funeral Home in Portland CT and a second service will be held on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. at Ewing Brothers Funeral Home, 630 S. Hanover St., Carlisle, PA.  Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until time of service.  Burial will be in Mt. Holly Springs Cemetery.  Donations can be made to Lion's Club International or Leader Dogs for the Blind.  www.Since1853.com