Jamie Ehlers Family Care & Memorial Fund

-Update 1/28-

Jamie’s memorial service will go on as scheduled tomorrow, January 29 at 11:00 AM at Freedom Fellowship Church. We hope everyone can attend but we understand if it is not possible due to the approaching snow storm. Thankfully, snow accumulation predictions are trending downward. Live-stream will be available at the link below.

For those unable to attend in-person but would like to share a memory of Jamie during the open-mic portion of the service, you can email  Jamie.Ehlers.Memorial at G mail. com and one of us will share it on your behalf. Open-mic will likely start around noon EST. 
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Jamie's Memorial Service & Celebration of Life:
Date: Saturday, January 29th at 11:00 AM EST
Venue: Freedom Fellowship Church, located at 836 Regency Dr, Virginia Beach
Live Stream: comegetfree (under "Sermons")
 
Please eat before you come. In order to allow friends and family to share stories about Jamie, we do not have a firm end time. 
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Jamie Lawrence Ehlers passed away on Friday, January 14, 2022 following an unexpected accident at his home in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Jamie was born in Antigo, Wisconsin on July 29, 1960. A committed Construction Manager at Alliance Engineering, the proverbial Mr. Fix-it, and a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan, Jamie was a beloved husband, father, son, brother, cousin, uncle, mentor, and friend to many. Jamie suffered his injuries doing what he loved: working in the yard with the same relentless energy, overflowing joy, and unstoppable enthusiasm for life he shared with everyone wherever he went.

 

Jamie is survived by his loving wife of 9 years, Kelly, and their beautiful, blended family of 7 children: Nichole and her husband Daniel, Shelby and her husband Kevin and their son on the way in April, Grant, Xander, Josh, Jamie Peter and his wife Meg, Nick, and two grandchildren, Veda and Vera. Jamie is also survived by his beloved family in Wisconsin: his mother Mary Ann Helmbrecht and his siblings Kathy Wolf, Jeff Ehlers, Karry Ort, Kristy Hedrick, and Kim Jansen. Jamie was preceded in death by his brother John Ehlers, his father James Lyle Ehlers, and his first wife Johanna (Pfeiffer) Ehlers with whom he shared 27 wonderful years of marriage. A memorial service to celebrate Jamie’s amazing life will be on Saturday, January 29th at 11:00 AM at Freedom Fellowship Church located at 836 Regency Dr, Virginia Beach, VA 23454. Please eat before you come. In order to allow time for family and friends to share stories about Jamie, we don’t have a firm end time. Livestream will be available on the church's website, which can be found here . 

 

Your contribution will help support the following expenses:

 

Dear family and friends,

 

It is with great sorrow that we share of Jamie’s passing. He ran his race well and entered into rest on January 14th at 5:06 PM after being transferred from the ICU to hospice in Chesapeake. Kelly was by his side and his family was able to say their goodbyes.

 

We understand this news comes as a shock; we are shocked too. Jamie was in great health and had as much energy as ever for work, fun projects, family, and friends. On Sunday, January 2nd, Jamie suffered a traumatic brain injury after falling out of a tree while taking down a huge, handmade lighted Christmas star in the front yard that you could see for blocks. He slipped into a coma a few hours after being admitted to the ICU and began to receive extensive medical care at Virginia Beach General Hospital. Initially, a CT scan discovered two brain bleeds and bruising, and over the course of the following week and a half, multiple issues with his brain were discovered including a fat embolism (from a broken femur), multiple contusions, and signs of diffuse axonal injury. This was widespread throughout Dad’s brain, especially in parts responsible for personality, judgment, memory, and emotional regulation. He was soon intubated and remained unresponsive on a ventilator and feeding tube for the duration of his hospital stay. Based on 4 CT scans and an MRI and the medical opinion of the neurosurgeon, Jamie’s prospects of meaningful recovery were slim to none.

 

After meeting with the neurosurgeon and his hospital care team, we discussed as a family what Dad would want for his care. We made the difficult, painful decision to transition Jamie to a hospice facility owned by Jamie and Kelly’s pastor’s wife, which involved taking him off the ventilator and feeding tube. Kelly’s words summarize it well: “God can still wake him up and raise him up and let him come back. That’s my faith. I’m not wavering from his fourth miracle. We’re just making him more comfortable and giving God room to move if that is His plan.”

 

Any other decision would have involved aggressive, expensive, and long-term medical care that would not have guaranteed that Jamie would wake up or recover in any way. This was a very hard decision, but one we were united in as a family. Jamie was in hospice for about a half an hour before he was called home by his Creator.

 

If you knew Jamie even for five minutes, you know Jamie had an uncanny knack for bringing humor, excitement, and engaging conversation to any situation. He lived his life in service to God and others, and still found time to always have half a dozen renovation projects around the house going at any given time. His hobbies included wood and metal crafting, small engine repair, landscaping, upcycling furniture, and of course, dumpster diving for scrap materials he could make into something new. He loved singing and harmonizing with his kids, playing guitar and leading worship, and playing the repentant Roman soldier in The Man Called Jesus passion play. Jamie was a faithful husband, a wonderful father, a dear friend, and a constant role model. He was a servant leader in his church and community, and modeled the love of Jesus to everyone he met. Jamie’s enthusiasm for life was so inspiring and contagious that he could make watching a kettle boil or waiting for paint to dry feel as exciting as the Olympic Games. In addition to being the #1 hype-man and king of dad jokes, he had an unwavering positive attitude no matter life’s circumstances, and was always ready to bring encouragement, wisdom, and truth to those around him. He will be sorely missed.

 

We know Jamie has fought a good fight, finished his race, and kept the faith. While his death is a heavy weight to bear, we know Jamie would want us to lean on Jesus who can carry us through. With all his energy and zeal for life, Jamie wouldn’t want us to be sad for too long but instead practice relentless love, forgiveness, and generosity for others as he modeled for us so well.

 

In addition to this GoFundMe, we invite you to contribute to a Meal Train for meals for Kelly and her boys. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for a lifetime of love and friendship with our dad and family. We are so grateful.

 

Love,

 

Kelly, Nichole and Daniel, Shelby and Kevin (and a baby on the way!), Grant, Xander, Josh, Jamie Peter and Meghan, Nick, and two grandchildren Veda and Vera

 

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)