Trudy Ann James

Trudy A. James, 86, MRE, interfaith hospital chaplain, AIDS worker, end-of-life advocate, and much more, died Sunday, October 20, 2024, at her home in Seattle, WA, surrounded by her family.

Trudy was born in a small town in the middle of Kansas on August 6, 1938, the first child of Adolf Gier and Gertrude (Witte) Gier. She surprised everyone by receiving a prestigious scholarship to the University of Kansas, which led to a BA with honors in English. She had two adventurous summers working in San Francisco, before attending Union Theological Seminary in the middle of New York City, where she received a Masters of Religious Education. She moved to Edinboro, PA, in the 60s, where she had four children with former husband (now deceased) Arthur Rathbun, and where she was very involved with the civil rights movement and working with high-need urban youth.

Moving back to Kansas with her family in 1974, she raised her children on small farms, sold real estate, did church youth work, and more, before getting divorced. She made the bold move to take a Pastoral Care internship at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock in 1989. As a newly-trained chaplain, from Kansas, she knew nothing about AIDS, a fearful, stigmatized disease, but learned fast from the eight AIDS patients she served that year. At the end of her chaplain internship, she applied for a new half-time position in Arkansas as director of RAIN, the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network. This four-state experiment funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was designed to see if people in churches could become part of the solution to AIDS hysteria in the South, via the creation of CareTeams helping people with AIDS.

She continued with this important work from 1989 to 1997, growing RAIN Arkansas until it covered the whole state, serving over 500 male and female CarePartners with AIDS. With love and support from their CareTeams, CarePartners talked openly about their own deaths, lived longer, and died more peacefully. She also traveled to ten other states to begin and support the CareTeam model, and was honored by President Clinton at the White House for her work with AIDS patients in 1993. Trudy moved to Seattle, WA, in 1997, to be closer to her first grandchild, Kaiser. There she continued her work with the AIDS CareTeam program as part of the Seattle Multifaith AIDS Agency. She trained 70 AIDS CareTeams in the Puget Sound area, in addition working as a chaplain at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance during this time. She also began having her renowned fund-raising events, which were a lovely combination of learning, celebrating, and eating and drinking.

When she “retired,” she used what she learned from her work with CareTeams and their Care Partners to see if others could become comfortable talking openly about death and planning for a good ending, and started an organization called Heartwork, initiating a program of four-session, community-based, end-of-life planning workshops called “A Gift for Yourself and Your Loved Ones.” She went on to convene Grief and Loss groups in senior housing, facilitated three-day Aging Wisely Together retreats for women at Whidbey Institute, and spent years pioneering end-of-life work, along with training other facilitators to lead end-of-life workshops. She spent two years producing the film, Speaking of Dying, which grew out of her experiences with more than sixty end-of-life groups (over 600 participants) and from her desire to ensure that everyone knows a peaceful ending is possible. She screened the film throughout the Puget Sound area, Palm Springs, CA, Northwest Arkansas, Minneapolis, MN, and other locations, and continued offering one-on-one support for individuals, couples, and family members dealing with illness, grief, loss, and the end of life up until days before her own death.

She was on the Advisory Board for End of Life, Washington, gathering signatures for Washington’s Death with Dignity law, passed in 2008, received the 2020 Janet G. Newell Award for Community Service in 2020, presented by Companis, and the 2020 IPAA (Inspire Positive Aging) award for her advocacy and activism, as well as further honors and awards. But she received her greatest reward in helping others, in her work with AIDS and end-of-life, and in working closely with friends and colleagues.

Throughout her life, Trudy loved to travel, visiting the United Kingdom multiple times (with family, and also to talk about the AIDS CareTeam model), taking an inspirational trip to Thailand and Bali, and crisscrossing the U.S. to talk about AIDS and end-of-life planning. She had a special connection to Italy, being deeply inspired by and feeling a spiritual kinship with St. Francis, and visited Assisi and other parts of the country numerous times. One of Trudy’s greatest joys in life was spending time with her grandchildren Kaiser and Coen, playing games, putting on holiday plays, cooking for them, and having long conversations with them. She also enjoyed doing art projects, baking, and watching movies with her “self-appointed” grandchild Tara Kankesh. She adored a good Aperol Spritz and a well-made tiramisu, and always kept her commitment to mind, body, heart, and spirit wholeness

Trudy is preceded in death by her parents, brother Richard, and infant daughter Juliann. She is survived by daughters Holly DeMaranville (and grandsons Kaiser and Coen DeMaranville) and Jill Rathbun (Jonathan Davis), son A.J. Rathbun (Natalie Fuller and granddog Ainsley), brother Henry Gier, sister-in-law Kathy Gier, and their children and grandchildren, and sister-in-law Nancy Gier and her children and so, so many wonderful friends.

A celebration of Trudy’s life will be held in the spring, please check back for more information, dates, and time. Click on the Get Reminders link below to receive notifications when her Celebration of Life is scheduled.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Trudy’s name may be can be made to End of Life Washington by visiting her page on their website at https://support.endoflifewa.org/a/trudy-james or by mail at:

End of Life Washington

1600-B SW Dash Point Road #1272

Federal Way, WA 98023

or to Bailey-Boushay House by visiting their website www.baileyboushay.org and clicking Donate, by phone at (877) 277-1025, or by mail to the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Foundation at:

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Foundation

P.O. Box 1930

MS: D1-MF

Seattle, WA 98111