Till We Meet Again

On September 19, 2024, Ele Behnke passed away, and Heaven gained another angel. I don’t even know where to begin expressing how much Aunt Ele meant to me. My earliest memories are of playing with her daughter, my cousin Jeanne. When my mother Sonja moved back home from California with two little kids, Aunt Ele and Uncle Roland opened their home to us and we all lived together in the little brick house on the Behnke property in Beltsville.

Memories flood in during times like these. I was fortunate to spend most summers with Aunt Ele and my cousins. With Uncle Roland in the Air Force they lived all over world and when they were stationed in the USA, I got to go see them. Jeanne and I had so much fun, and of course, her younger brothers, Mark and Carl, were never far behind. I remember Aunt Ele helping me with my Girl Scout badges—cooking, I think. She even took me shopping for my wedding gown. She even waited all day with my mom when my son Steven was born.

This past summer, Aunt Ele celebrated the weddings of two of her grandchildren and a big 90th birthday party for herself. It’s hard to believe that just this past July, she was sampling desserts at her party, and now she’s gone.

Many of you knew Ele from her decades at Behnke Nurseries. From spring transplanting to transforming the Christmas Shop into a magical wonderland. Cars would line up for miles to get into our parking lot. As Behnke’s Christmas buyer and manager, she was able to make Behnke’s a Gold Key Member of Department 56—if you have any older Snow Village houses or German nutcrackers, they probably came from Behnke’s and you can thank Ele for carefully choosing which ones we sold. She even taught us all how to make the famous Behnke Bow.

What made Aunt Ele so special was her heart and her deep faith. She was a kind and loving woman who deeply cherished her family and friends, and we all felt it. I’ll never forget her unwavering kindness—always there for me and always ready to help with whatever anyone needed. Now, she’s in Heaven with her husband, parents, in-laws, and my mom.  And I can’t help but wonder—are they decorating Christmas trees in heaven?