Marie K Hutchens

Goldie Marie Koller was born on November 15, 1917 in Garfield County Washington, to Richard and Ollie Koller, and passed away June 16th , 2012, in Auburn Washington, at the age of 94. She was the 8th of 13 children born to this couple. Her parents had moved from their homes in Summersville, Missouri, with 4 of their children to improve Ollie’s health. Apparently, it was a good move, since Ollie lived in Pomeroy and Garfield County until her death at 104 years.

Marie along with her siblings attended a one-room country schoolhouse, at the end of the road to their home in Lynn Gulch. She was asked to repeat the first grade, as a new teacher determined she was lacking in some of the fundamentals. Under the guidance of several good teachers, she graduated from the 8th grade with high marks in all state required subjects. At that time, all students had to pass state examinations to graduate from school. Penmanship was a required subject as was agriculture. To her credit, Marie’s penmanship was impeccable—exactly as the teaching charts displayed the correct form.

One of the pictures in the slide show is of mom in a costume for a school play. She was a rose, complete with crepe paper rose petals and green leaves sewn onto a flour sack slip with a hat to match. Her performance was requested at the grange picnic and Pomeroy’s Pioneer Days celebration. This may have been the beginning of her ability to be comfortable in almost any situation.

After completing the 8th grade, she did what almost all children her age did..went to work on the family farm or other jobs in the area. Schooling beyond the 8th grade was not common in country families. At 15, she kept the house organized while her parents went to Missouri to visit family. The fall seeding had to be done, sending younger children to school, washing , ironing, cooking, and cleaning for the family became her life for awhile. At the same time, she cooked meals for a work crew from the company who was building the first power plant in the area. It would be another 4 years before electricity would be available to their farm.

For 3 years she cooked and worked for the George Sheppard family, and was given the job on the strength of her bread baking skills. The competition for the job was between her self and her sister, Dorothy. Both were excellent cooks and bakers, but mom won the job. For those of us who routinely buy bread at the local store, it was not a consideration in her time. She could and often did bake 25 loaves of bread in a single day. The chores we deal with routinely without thought, was a much bigger effort in her time. Laundry, cleaning, gardening, all were essential things…if you didn’t grow your own food, you were hungry, unless you could trade or less-likely purchase your needs. For a family of 15, there was no other option but to work and to work hard. It would have been unthinkable not to be as useful as possible, and without an allowance.

When her sister Mabel developed diabetes and was dying, her parents took her to town for treatment and to make her last weeks comfortable. In the meantime, her older brothers who were only in their very early teens, harnessed horses each day, and plowed and planted hundreds and hundreds of acres of wheat. The crowning glory of this family, in my estimation, is the gift of love, of being able to work, of being able to work for a higher cause..the family unit, not their own personal wishes or ambitions.

Mom always wanted more education, and when she was working for the Sheppards, she appealed to Pomeroy High School for admission to gain a high school diploma. Her long term goal was to gain a business college education, and knew she needed her diploma first. After receiving special permission, she joined her brother Gilbert, who was the first sibling to attend school past the 8th grade, in 1937 as a 20 year old sophomore. She and Gilbert worked for board and room to be able to stay in town to attend school, as there were no busses to the family farm, which was 20 miles out of town. In 1940, she and her brother graduated together, and she later was able to attend Northwestern Business College in the Spokane area and graduated in 1942.

At one time, Marie needed some new work clothes, and she determined that she should sew them herself. Her experience in sewing was limited, but she wasn’t deterred. Her first project was a lined wool business suit with bound buttonholes… and it was impeccably finished. That would be Marie.

She was proud to say she worked for the Atomic Energy Commission in 1942 and held the highest security clearance the US had to offer at the time. Even as she filled her goal of working in the business world, she would return home at harvest time, to help with cooking for harvest crews and also to help in the fields. During the war years help was scarce as many of the men were serving overseas. We have a family picture of her working header on the combines, and lifting wheat sacks that weighed 135 pounds. That is about what she weighed. She was a hard worker, and liked being outside as much as inside work.

In 1946, she married Roy Hutchens of Kent, Washington, and settled in the Kent area. 4 children were born to this couple: Nancy, Dick, Sandra, and Doug. In 1949, dad had an opportunity to work in Ketchikan in the Territory of Alaska, and mom followed him, children and all. Dad worked for the Ketchikan Garage, which at the time was the oldest Chevrolet dealer in the world. Now, I remember Ketchikan vividly…imagine this: A town of 5000 people on an island, on the side of a mountain and THEY are the oldest Chevy dealer in the world? I wonder how that happened. I know they also sold other GM products including Pontiac …we as kids always had Indian headdresses with feathers…courtesy of Pontiac cars.

Mom worked for a dry cleaner at the time, who told her she could keep any change under one dollar that she found in clothing pockets. As a result, she saved enough money to purchase an airline ticket and attend her parents 50th wedding celebration. She also traveled to the states to have Sandra and Doug when the time came closer for their births.

Mom had to have c-sections for the last three children, and when it was time for Doug to be born, she determined she would have him on Grandma Koller’s birthday, July 9th. At the time none of her other grandchildren had been born on her birthday, and mom felt it was a good thing. Well, Grandpa Koller disagreed…he felt that having the baby a couple of weeks early wasn’t good, and he wasn’t in favor, no matter whose birthday would be honored. Well, mom can give as good as she got, Doug was born on the 9th of July.

In 1956, our family moved back stateside, and into the Kent area, where dad owned a Mobil gasoline service station in downtown Kent. Mom kept the books and also worked at other businesses including Boeing, Andrew Brown paints, and Heath Tecna plating. Eventually, she took early retirement to care for dad, who had many problems with diabetes.

Marie and Roy were avid race car fans, and attended many racing events each summer. They were friends with owners and drivers and it gave them great pleasure to be at the track watching midgets or Indy cars racing here and in Oregon. Mom always regretted that my early arrival in this world caused her to miss the final race of the season----I do believe dad attended and caught up with mom afterwards, in time for the delivery of their first child.

One highlight of her life was in 1984, when she traveled with dad’s old army unit and their wives, to Europe. It was a tour of the sites that dad’s unit served in during the conflict in WW11…Dad was in a tank destroyer unit and was part of Patton’s 3rd Army. As such, their travels took his unit to France, Lichtenstein, Austria, Belgium, Luxenburg, Germany, Switzerland, and England. The tour did not include the sites in northern Africa, but mom was just so happy to be with these good people. Unfortunately, dad had part of his foot amputated, and did not feel he could keep up…but urged her to go, and made arrangements with the unit commander to have her included. It was of great importance to them both.

In 1988, dad died, and she found herself with time available that used to be spent caring full-time for him. In short order, she took up golf, learned to play bridge, traveled to Hawaii, and became very involved with the local Eagles Lodge. She served with them for many years until her health caused her to be unable to continue. Many of their activities were the focus of her life and the energy she expended there was well-received by the many charities she assisted.

A few years ago, she was asked to compete in the contest the City of Auburn has for it’s Pioneer Queen. To be considered, you have to reach the age of 80, and to have completed many hours of service to the community. She competed 3 times for this honor, the last time at the age of 87. She was proud of the first runner-up tiara she was presented with, and it became a running joke among her friends as to who would inherit the crown.

As she lived out her final years, she witnessed the growth of her own family to include; her own 4 children: Nancy and her husband Boyce Church, Dick and his wife Donna, Sandra and her partner Ben Tsujikawa, and Doug. She has 6 grandsons and 3 great grandsons, and 1 great granddaughter, along with 29 neices and nephews. She is also survived by three brothers: Gilbert of Edmonds, and Donald and Robert of Pomeroy. She was preceded in death by her husband, Roy, and her son Dick.

She witnessed the celebration of her parents 50th wedding and at least 6 of her siblings 50th wedding celebrations. She and dad were not able to reach that goal because dad died in the 43rd year of their marriage. It only felt like 50 years, if you knew them… Dick and Donna were married 38 years at his death, and I have been married 46 years. This is in part due to the influence of her family…the idea that good things persevere despite challenges, that giving up isn’t always the best option, and that family seems more important as we grow older.

The newest member of the family is Finnegan Boyce Church, and he is 11 weeks old. It is with great sadness, that she didn’t get to see him. The threat of the whooping cough epidemic in this area, and a baby too young to protect with vaccines, kept him away, and we had hoped she would last another month until it was safe. But, she saw pictures, and despite her failing mind, she remembered that it was Mark’s baby she was looking at.

In the end, she passed peaceably enough. But the days prior to that were difficult to watch, and she was a bulldog in her fight to hang on. The staff at the nursing home had many loyal people who cared deeply for her, and we witnessed it as she finished out her life. Richard, who is a physical therapist and had worked off and on with her for 4 years, came by as soon as she returned, and came often.

His conversation was like this:

Marie, it is Richard. Marie, wake up , it is Richard. As he moved closer to her each time, he said again: Marie---open your eyes and look at me, it is Richard.

Darned if she didn’t do exactly that! Richard said, I love you Marie, I love you Marie.

Now those of you who know her, know as we have said…..mom loves men.

Doesn’t it just seem appropriate that the last time she would listen to and respond to a voice in this lifetime, would be for Richard…a man she really really liked?

It was heartwarming to see and be part of that exchange. To see her personality even in it’s dimished form, take root among those who help and served her was comforting to us.

She could delight us, she could frustrate us, she will be the punchline in our stories, and we will miss the woman we know to be our mother, and your friend, Marie Koller Hutchens.