Early on, Ellie was curious about communicating to far away lands. Her father, Ted, helped arouse her interest in distant communication by showing her how to use a HAM radio. She asks her dad if it could be possible to talk to someone on the moon with her radio. He says "Well, if it's a big enough radio, I don't see why not." This leads her to question if it could be possible to talk to her mom if she had such a radio. Ellie's mother died when she gave birth to her due to some complications. This left Ellie motherless and wishing she could meet her mother one day. Ellie's father was her only family, and she was very close to him. When he died, Ellie was all alone and she blamed his death partly on herself. She said she could have saved him if the medicine were closer. …
