SOUTH HADLEY, MA - On Sunday Oct 13, 2024, our sweetest, most precious Elise, after facing a recurrence of cancer with grace and strength, passed at age 17 in the quiet of her room in the loving embrace of family and her cherished Golden Retriever Lyla.

After beating cancer in 2020, she had finally gotten back to “normal” life by her junior year at her beloved Williston Northampton School, playing tennis and volleyball, visiting colleges, earning academic accolades, mastering oil painting, traveling, attending prom, and spending time with a great friend group. 

She has always been known as the sweetest, kindest person, eager to help out whenever she could and lift people’s spirits. She wanted to save the oceans, animals, and, ultimately, as an MD researcher, find a cure for cancer. A gifted artist, she created many beautiful paintings, drawings, and character sketches, even turning her travel scrapbooking into a high art. Often dressed in charming pink outfits with bows in her honey blonde hair, she enjoyed making people laugh with her quick wit and wry sense of humor. She embodied a rare blend of grace and resilience that touched the hearts of all who knew her.

She spent her primary school years in Berlin, Germany where she became fluent in German in honor of her Grandfather Rudolf Ollmann, who had immigrated to the US in 1963. She also began her study of French, made especially meaningful by a discovery of new relatives in MN of French ancestry.

When she was 10 years old, she embarked with her mom on a year-long journey around the world, setting foot on five continents, trekking Patagonia, feeding and bathing elephants in Thailand, marveling at ancient temples, delighting in “kawaii” Harajuku, Japan, among many other adventures, which contributed to her artistic vision and shaped her worldview.

Elise is survived by her mom Susanne Ollmann, half-sisters Vicky and Izzy Kahle, Oma Sylvia Ollmann, Gran Joan Howard, Grandpa Vinny Brown, aunts Lisa Mair, Maureen Muller, Katie Ollmann, Chris Gromek, and uncles Mark Ollmann and Glen Mair, cousins Rachael and Will Mair and Conor and Jake Ollmann, Annika Gromek, lifelong best friend Than An Pham, loving godparents Tony Pellechio, Betsy Karasik, Jill Léger, and Robert Pincombe, as well as many dear friends and relatives in Germany. She is predeceased by her Opa Rudolf Ollmann, Grandpa Eberhard Muller-Kahle, father Mark Kahle, and cousin Kyle Ollmann. 

Right up through the end, Elise remained profoundly grateful for her friends, family, prayer groups, extensive medical and emotional care team, and school community.

In Eastern MA, a small Catholic Service to honor Elise’s life will be held Nov 2 at 3pm at the St. Benedict Abbey in Harvard, MA. In Western MA, a memorial service will be held Nov 3 at 1pm at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton with a reception to follow in Reed. 

All are invited to wear pink in honor of Elise’s favorite color. In keeping with her wish, Elise’s ashes will nourish a memorial tree selected for her in a protected forest in the Berkshires. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to www.curethekids.org/givenow.