Analee Compton

Analee “Pumpkin” (94) was born December 14, 1930 to Darrel and Kathryn (Kossoff) Cole on December 14, 1930. She passed March 26, 2025. The family moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where she was raised and graduated high school as Class Valedictorian in 1948. The family moved to Spokane, Washington and Analee attended Eastern Washington State College where she earned two Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Education.

After graduation from Eastern Washington State College, she flew to New York, boarded the Queen Mary to take a teaching position at a military base in Germany. There she met her husband, William, in a village in the south. They had one child, John.

She continued her education completing a Master of Arts in Foreign Language from Washington State University, where she was a teaching assistant. Because of her scholarly education, she was the recipient of a grant from the French government to teach there. This experience led to a lifelong emphasis on international travel often combined with study in foreign universities. Her travels have taken her to many European countries as well as Southeast Asia. She visited 50 countries and studied in 26 different universities. Analee spoke and understood French Spanish, German and Italian.

Analee taught for a year in Endicott, Washington and moving back to Spokane taking a job at Roger’s High School and later Ferris High School in Spokane’s District 81. Analee always kept her Kindle close by to enjoy the hundreds of books she would read in a year. She actually kept a list of all her books she read, usually 180 books a year. She also followed tennis (her favorite), basketball, football and baseball. She would go to 2 to 3 movies a week and especially loved foreign language films.

With her love of travel and culture, she traveled to Mexico many times and in 2005 purchased a condo in Mazatlan. She loved wintering there and making new friends! While in Mazatlan, she also followed her passion for language and worked at a local language school.

Analee was smart, pretty, vibrant, independent, classy and always well put together. She loved wearing bright colors and her Italian shoes. She lived an exciting life of travel, education, and staying connected to the world. She also excelled at the stock market. She was an inspiration to all who knew and loved her.

Analee is survived by her loving and caring son, John and his wife Sally. Her sister Penny Cole Rechkoff, two nieces, Sonya Tobeck (Robbie) and Melissa Tidwell (John).

At her request, no service will be held.