Mary Emma (Schoening) Lind-Speidel

Mary Emma (Schoening) Lind-Speidel, known as "Nana," almost 89 years old of Lynnwood, WA, passed into the waiting arms of her Lord and Savior on Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at Providence Medical Center in Everett, WA, from complications of heart and lung disease.

Born a coal miner's daughter on August 27, 1924 in Twila, KY, Mary was the middle of seven children born to August Gustav and Susan Katherine (Brock) Schoening. When she was three, her father developed black lung disease and thus she, along with her parents and three older siblings, spent the next two months traveling west in a 1924 Rickenbacker touring car, settling finally in Blaine, WA. Her daddy, who himself had immigrated to the US as a small child from Germany, originally hoped to immigrate to Canada. As the family story was retold, either he didn't have enough money or the Canadians would not allow him to bring his rifle across the border. So, instead, he homesteaded 30 acres near the Canada/US border along Sweet Road in Blaine until 1953, when they moved off the farm into a home along State Street in Bellingham. Though very poor during the Great Depression and WWII, her family never went hungry due to the raising of farm animals, garden vegetables and fruit trees, which provided extra supply to sell to city folk.

Mary, known by her middle name of "Emma" during those years (a name she never liked!), often talked about her happy childhood on the farm playing with her siblings and the other neighbor kids after all the chores were done in the summer evenings, yodeling and reading books in the cherry tree, riding the one bike all seven children shared, going to grange dances, walking all the way into Birch Bay, being a song leader at Blaine High School, picking strawberries at Peppits Farm and selling wild blackberries to earn money for more than one pair of shoes. It was during these years that she came to know her Lord, as she studied the Bible and hid His word in her heart. She often told the story of being 12 years old, at a series of revival meetings held by a neighbor boy who was preparing for the ministry, and realizing that she wanted to be in relationship with Jesus. She credits her half-sister Julia "Fay" for awakening her soul by reading scripture to her at night in the farmhouse bed they shared.

This hard but happy world ended for her at age 17, with the tragic death of her fiancé, Raymond Barnes of Custer, WA, a fighter pilot killed in a training flight over Washington DC, and the first WWII casualty in the Blaine area. Heartbroken and grieving, a senior in her final semester of high school, she refused to attend classes and spent weeks curled up at home, in the numb shell of grief. The principal of Blaine High recognized that Mary was an accomplished student, so he made a deal with her father: If she could muster the strength to return to school, she wouldn't have to do any work - she just had to be present for classes - and he would allow her to graduate with her class. She took him up on his offer, returned to school for the last few months of her senior year, and received her high school diploma in 1943. Upon graduation, she immediately moved to Seattle and took back her given name of Mary.

Mary loved the city life of Seattle, dreaming always to become a movie star. Instead she was a telephone operator for Ma Bell, a receptionist for Davies Chevrolet, a stocker for Jean Hall's Dress Shop, and a "Rosie the Riveter" at Todd Shipyards where she met her first husband, Reuben Joel Lind. It was not love at first sight for her, but it was for him and eventually Mary grew to love this great big Swede and Norwegian, and they married on November 1, 1946, making their home in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle.

An excellent homemaker, Mary referred to herself as a "domestic engineer." She often wondered how anyone could get bored at home with tasks always needing to be done. And busy she was, raising three young children, James Raymond (b. 1949), Richard Leonard (b. 1951) and Diana Marie (b. 1955). With three children and money scarce, she helped Reuben support their family as a claims taker with the unemployment office. She loved working in downtown Seattle and the hustle and bustle of city life, but in 1964, she and Reuben moved their family to Shoreline, WA, where they teamed together in a home office, publishing local union magazines. Life was good as they loved, lived and worked together in the home, in the garden and on the golf course.

In her spare time, Mary enjoyed her hobbies of embroidery, upholstery, sewing, reading, decorating for the holidays, planning and attending parties and, eventually, collecting dolls, since as a child her one and only doll was destroyed by rainfall after she and her sister Katherine left their dolls outside one evening. She even learned how to drive an automobile and, in 1972, Reuben bought her a brand new bright orange Chevrolet Vega: a car she drove only within a few miles from home, but as the years went on she loved the independence of driving to the grocery store, the hairdresser and the local mall. During her later years, Mary realized her loss of vision meant she would have to give up her license, a decision she knew she had to make, but one she always hoped could someday be reversed. Unfortunately, her eyes only got worse with the coming years.

As the kids left home one by one, she and Reuben spent many long days on the golf course, traveled with the Nile Couples Club (where, to her delight, she accomplished a golfer's dream with a "hole in one" on the 9th hole at their favorite Nile Golf Course in 1986) and became lifelong friends of Bill W. Health troubles for Mary began in midlife at age 55 with her first heart bypass operation in 1980. Her family teased that she and Reuben always did everything together and it was true with heart operations, as well, as six weeks into her recovery, Reuben had a quadruple heart bypass. They both recovered well and in the next ten years continued to golf, garden and travel to Hawaii, Mexico, Arizona, California, and Canada, in addition to an East Coast Fall Colors Tour in 1990, which would be their last trip together.

Mary was heartbroken once again with the sudden heart coronary death of Reuben in 1991. After 44 years of marriage she was determined, however, to go on, as Reuben would have wanted her to do. Unfortunately, it was not long before she began having her own health troubles again and, in 1992, she received her second heart bypass. Her recovery this time was much harder without her beloved, but she was a lover of life and with her faith to guide she moved forward, rebuilding her life and enjoying her three granddaughters. She even worked a little during these years, at nearly 70 years of age, as a crossing guard for the Shoreline School District and as an assistant in a friend's home daycare. But once again tragedy saddened her heart in 1994, with the pulmonary death of her eldest son James, who had battled the ravages of schizophrenia for over 20 years.

Always loving a reason for a fancy dress and party, Mary had accepted in December of 1993 an invitation to attend a holiday ball with a recent widower, Richard "Dick" Speidel, with whom she and Reuben had golfed in earlier years. She was nervous the evening that she prepared for the party, knowing it had been 47 years since she had been on a date! Mary and Dick had a wonderful time, laughing and sharing stories. Their relationship flourished and, at age 71, she and Dick were married with a large church wedding on July 1, 1995. They enjoyed the following 18 years with many holes of golf; international travels to locations of Fiji, New Zealand, and Mexico; cruises to Hawaii, Bahamas and the Panama Canal; and trips to many US locations, among which her favorites were Branson, MO, and visiting her birthplace and many cousins in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky. The final trip she always dreamed of was a Rhine River cruise in Germany to visit the birthplace of her father in Oberweisel and to vacation in the castle where her father was born. Unfortunately, that trip was never completed and was cancelled just 6 weeks prior to her death due to declining health for both her and Dick. She and Dick made their home in condos in Shoreline, downtown Edmonds and finally at Brighton Court Retirement Home in Lynnwood, WA.

During these years she suffered many painful physical problems: chronic back and debilitating back pain, severe hearing loss and sight impairment from macular degeneration, cancer of the parotid gland, kidney failure and heart and lung problems. And, yet, she kept on loving and living life to the fullest, always dreaming of the next trip or what she may wear to the next party. Her family often called her "the cat with way more than nine lives." Mary was an inspiration to all, how she could handle such pain and agony with grace, joy and thanksgiving in her heart. Always with a song in her heart and a love for life, she never believed that age should make one think or act old.

Five months prior to her death, Mary's life once again was shattered with the death of her second son, Richard, on February 11, 2013, after a short 12 week battle with stage-four lung cancer. Devastated by his death, what eased her pain was his newfound joy in Christ and looking forward to joining him, as well as her other beloveds, someday in Heaven. The love she had for God, which began when she was twelve years old, was the anchor that held her through the many troubled waters throughout her life. Mary's legacy of faith, family and choosing to live life to its fullest with joy and happiness in the midst of hardship and trial will remain forever strong in the hearts of generations to follow.

"The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17"

Beloved wife, mother, stepmother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great grandmother, stepgrandmother and step great grandmother, sister, aunt, great aunt and friend to many, Mary, also known as "Nana," is survived by her present husband of 18 years, Richard "Dick" Speidel of Lynnwood, WA; daughter and son-in-law, Diana and Matthew Lentz of Snohomish, WA; stepchildren Vicky (Cassy) Simmonds of Honolulu, HI, Ken (Debbie) Speidel of Seattle, WA and Ron (Jani) Speidel of Idaho; daughter-in-law, Mary Beth Robertson of Seattle; granddaughters, Kristi Lentz of Marysville, WA, Tami Lentz (Gary Medranda) of Snohomish, WA and Deanie Lind of Corvallis, OR; great grandchildren, Benjamin Medranda-Lentz and Narave Medranda-Lentz of Snohomish; brother and sister-in-law, William and May Schoening of Salem, OR. She is also survived by nine step-grandchildren and six step-great grandchildren along with many nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews. Mary will be dearly missed!

Mary was preceded in death by her first husband, Reuben Joel Lind of Shoreline, WA, married 44 years; sons James Raymond Lind of Parkwood, WA and Richard Leonard Lind of Seattle; three brothers, Otis Schoening of Seattle, John Schoening of Nampa, ID, and Robert Schoening of Blaine, WA; and two sisters, Katherine (Schoening) Fishbourne of Wenatchee, WA, Minnie (Schoening) Froehlich of Lompoc, CA, and half sister, Julia "Fay" Schoening of Seattle.