Ilse G. Ashley

Ilse G. Ashley Ilse G. Ashley, 93, formerly of Orlando, FL, passed away on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at Spring Village Senior Living in East Stroudsburg, PA. Born Gertraude Ilse Brachmann on December 6, 1928, in Berlin, Germany, she was the daughter of the late Otto Maximillian Herbert Brachmann and Martha (Zarember) Brachmann. Growing up in Germany during the 1930’s and 1940s was not easy. Ilse lived with her family in a small cold-water flat, attended Catholic school as a child, and then a neighborhood school during World War II, before training for three years at university to become a shoe clerk when she was a teenager. (She often expressed frustration that no one in the States was properly trained to fit shoes.) Ilse spent eight months living in Bavaria where she worked caring for the two children of an air force captain and his wife, and also worked in a shoe store in Berlin during the war. She walked to and from her job, ducking into doorways at the sound of air raid sirens, until one day her brother gave her his bicycle so she could get to and from work more quickly and safely. It was in war-torn Berlin in 1945 where she met an American soldier, Eugene “Gene” Arrs. In April 1948, nineteen-year-old Ilse left her home country and traveled to New York City, where she married Gene. They moved to a farm in Saylorsburg, PA, and over the next few years Ilse became mother to two daughters, Diana and Karen. In the 1950s she was a homemaker and Girl Scout troop leader, and enjoyed riding horses and visiting with friends. She learned to scuba dive at the YMCA and loved to swim and scuba dive at Saylors Lake. Ilse also trained as a beautician and earned her cosmetology license in 1965. While she never made a career of it, she did hair from time to time, and always had beauty tips to share. Eventually Ilse and Gene parted ways, and in 1971, Ilse married her second husband Robert “Bob” Thomas, with whom she shared 28 years of marriage. Together they enjoyed camping, music, and their dogs, as well as entertaining their grandchildren. In the early 1970s, Ilse worked as a seamstress at various blouse mills near Saylorsburg, including Lisa Marie and Scotty’s Fashions. In 1977, Ilse and Bob moved to Florida, where they lived in Orlando, Inverness, and Clermont, until Bob died in December 1999. They shared many adventures and always loved entertaining family and friends who came to visit, often guiding them on excursions to theme parks, the beach, their favorite restaurants, and boating on the lakes. During the early 2000’s, in her mid-70s, Ilse embraced internet dating and met her third husband Eugene Ashley. They married in July 2006, and spent several years together, traveling throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, Japan, Australia, and Germany. After Eugene died in 2015, Ilse resumed her single life in Orlando, spending time with good friends, hosting family who came to visit, and occasionally traveling back to Pennsylvania to visit her daughters and their families, now including several great-grandchildren. In November 2017, Ilse returned permanently to Pennsylvania after suffering a stroke, and lived her remaining years at Spring Village Senior Living in East Stroudsburg, where she met Frank Ridlon, her loving companion. They supported and doted on each other, spending their days holding hands, watching old movies, and playing Bingo. Ilse enjoyed her outings with family for the holidays, or to the Lakeside in Saylorsburg for dinner, drinks, and music when she was able. Ilse’s was a life well lived and well loved. She was a straightforward, opinionated, flirty and feisty German woman (who insisted she’d lost her accent years ago) that nearly always said exactly what was on her mind, no matter how shocking. She took pride in her appearance, kept her nails polished, loved attention, and never passed on a compliment. While Ilse insisted for years that she was “39,” age was truly just a number to her, and she never let it define her. She said and did what she wanted, and loved spending time in the company of people of all ages. Ilse was both frugal and generous, and her family eagerly anticipated the days when she announced she would be making her signature German dish, rouladen. She always had good chocolate on hand, and it’s no secret that she enjoyed her cocktails. (She wasn’t too fussy about what was in the glass, as long as you didn’t try to water it down.) Ilse loved animals, and when she visited her daughters, the pets couldn’t wait to sit on her lap while she relaxed on the couch. Ilse was preceded in death by her parents Max and Martha, brothers Günther and Ewald, sisters Eva, Ruth, and Hannelore, ex-husband Gene, husbands Bob and Eugene, and granddaughter Lezlie Cardwell. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Diana and Roger Cardwell of Saylorsburg, her daughter and son-in-law Karen and Bruce Ecke of Saylorsburg, grandchildren Marlo (Ecke) Spritzer of Saylorsburg, Jason Ecke of Saylorsburg, Roger “Skip” Cardwell of Effort, and Kina (Cardwell) Acosta of Saylorsburg, and their families, several nieces and nephews in Germany, and her loving companion Frank Ridlon of East Stroudsburg. A memorial service for Ilse will be held on June 10th at 2:00 p.m. at the Ecke Pavilion at 108 Ecke Lane in Saylorsburg. Due to the rise in cases, the family requests that guests follow covid safety protocol and do not attend if showing symptoms of illness. Those who cannot attend for any reason are invited to raise a glass in Ilse’s memory, from wherever they are. Donations in Ilse’s memory can be made to Camp Papillon Animal Shelter, A.W.S.O.M. Animal Shelter, or any animal rescue or charitable organization of choice.