Edith Gertrude Kinzer Sackett

Edith Gertrude Kinzer Sackett, age 98, passed away on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at Harmony House Nursing Home in Brewster, Wash.  Edith was born in a two story ranch house just outside of Uniontown, Washington on March 6, 1917.  She was the seventh child of 16 children of John Kinzer and Louise Bosse Kinzer.   She had six brothers and nine sisters, including three sets of twins born after her.  Edith was treated as one of the boys and at an early age she learned to ride a saddle horse and was one of the drivers of a team of horses for harvest and hauling and loading hay.  She was proud of her riding ability and stated she never had fallen from a horse.  However, she did not drive and her reason for not driving, was that she had borrowed her mother's car, and ran it off the road into a field.

In 1935 Edith graduated from St. Boniface High School in Uniontown, the first of her family to graduate from high school.  Edith had a lovely singing voice and played piano in school.

After high school she spent four years in a convent in Portland Ore., then returned to Spokane, Wash., to work at Sacred Heart Hospital  as a nurse's aide.  While in Spokane she met Paul Sackett and they were married in 1942.  Paul was drafted into the Army soon after their wedding and Edith returned to Uniontown to stay with her mother.

When Paul was stationed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Edith took her oldest son on the train to be with him before he shipped out.  She did not have fond memories of New Mexico.

After the war the family moved to Couer d'Alene, Idaho where four girls were born.  For short slices of time they lived in Lewiston, Winchester, Grangeville, and Kooskia, Idaho.  In 1955 Edith and Paul moved to Grand Coulee, Wash., where the youngest child was born in Coulee Dam Hospital in Coulee Dam, Washington.  Edith spent her time raising her children and was a devout member of St. Henry's Catholic Church.  She helped with church activities as a member of St. Henry's Altar Society.  In 1969 she moved to Lynnwood, Wash., with her youngest son John.  In Lynnwood she worked for a time in a nursing home and then retired.  During her time in Lynnwood she helped take care of all of her grandchildren when they were small.

Edith lived with her daughter Susan Sackett Farrell from 1980 to 1989 in Sumner, Wash.  When Susan moved to Arizona in 1990, Edith moved to Everett, Wash., into her own apartment.  In 2006 at the age of 89 Edith moved to Tonasket, Wash., and lived at the North Valley Assisted Living Center so she could be close to her daughters Susan and Kathy.  She was one of 28 residents who had to leave North Valley Assisted Living Center in 2013 when it closed.

Edith spent the last two years of her life at Harmony House Nursing Home in Brewster, Wash., where she was lovingly cared for and treated as family.

Edith was preceded in death by two of her children, Kristeen Sackett (18 Mo) and Louise Sackett Hagemeister, (35 Yrs.).

Edith is survived by her children Lawrence Sackett, (Juanita), East Wenatchee, Wash., Susan Sackett Farrell, Kathleen Sackett Rawley, (Dwain), Tonasket, and John Sackett, (Jeri), Everett; 10 grandchildren: Paul Sackett, Christopher Sackett, Timothy Sackett, Jack Sackett, Becki Hagemeister, Katy Hagemeister Turner, Wayne Rawley, Kristine Rawley Guenther, Keith Sackett, Michelle Sackett Turner; 11 great-grandchildren: Brianna Sackett, Nicholas Sackett, AJ Sackett, Mackenzie Sackett, Dillon Sackett, Ellie Turner, Johnny Turner, Stella Rawley, Weston Rawley, Isaac Sackett, Kayla Sackett, Bridgette Turner. Three sisters, Alice, Cecelia, and Theresa and numerous nieces and nephews.

Father Mathew Nicks of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Brewster, will lead the Holy Rosary for family and friends on Friday, May 15, at 5 p.m.,  Father Nicks will also officiate the Mass Service at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m.  A reception will follow in the church hall. 

Please make any remembrances to St Henry's Catholic Church, Grand Coulee, or Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Brewster.