Lydia was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 14, 1933 as the only child of Harrison and Emma (Dondeneau) Anderson both of whom preceded her in death. She lived the first 12 years of her life in the Hecker House, a turreted mansion that was built in 1889-1891. In 1928 after the Hecker family was unable to sell the mansion, Harrison (a banker) and Emma (the proprietor) rented the estate and ran the Hecker Mansion Boarding house for young professionals and male and female college graduates until 1946 when the Hecker family once again decided to try to sell the mansion.
During Lydia’s younger years, she attended nursery school at Merrill Palmer School located next to the “Big House” as Lydia always referred to the mansion. Her mother had Lydia attend the school, which was highly thought of, so she had interaction with children her own age since she was an only child and was growing up with so many adults in her life. Lydia’s time in the house was special and she would share stories throughout her life about living in the big house, sliding down the grand staircase and leaving her dirty dough ball in the center of “Cook’s” bread dough when he turned his back to answer the telephone.
As Lydia grew, she would occasionally attend the Merrill Palmer after-school club as she loved socializing with other children. She moved from the big house when she was 13 years old to a single family home on Main Street and graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1951. Lydia decided to become a nurse between her junior and senior years when she did volunteer work at a local hospital.
Lydia earned a degree in Nursing from the University of Michigan where she met her future husband James Richard Easley, who was studying in the School of Dentistry. They met on a blind date and while dating learned their paths had crossed long before. Lydia loved to tell the story about the time when unknown to both of them, Jim and Lydia both attended the after-school-club at Merrill Palmer and Jim later explained to her how he used to watch a young girl walk out the door and turn to the right and walk towards the “Big House”. As fate would have it, they realized it was Lydia he was watching and they would forever share the special bond of this chance meeting throughout their lives.
Jim and Lydia married in June of 1955 and upon graduation they lived for several years in Royal Oak, Michigan, where their children were born, before moving their family to Seattle, Washington. There Jim continued his studies in Periodontology at the University of Washington. They lived in the University District for several years before purchasing a home in Bellevue where they raised their children. Lydia was active in the PTA, was a den leader for her son’s Cub Scout group and volunteered at the Bellevue Arts & Craft Fair and the Bellevue Library. She also volunteered as a time keeper for ski races at Alpental during the years her children participated in the sport.
In addition to raising her children, Lydia worked in the nursing field in both hospitals and doctor’s offices and several times in Jim’s dental office when the need arose. Outside of work, she held numerous chapter leadership positions and was active in PEO, (a philanthropic educational organization), committed to helping women pursue higher education. She also served several times on the Alpental Community Club board where the family had a wonderful second home in the mountains. Lydia enjoyed reading, gardening, knitting and rooting for her favorite teams (U of M Wolverines, Mariners and Seahawks). She was an accomplished cross-stitcher who enjoyed making beautiful works of art with her hands and crossed threads, from intricate samplers to Christmas stockings and wedding samplers for her children and grandchildren to mark special occasions.
Lydia was a strong woman with a distinctive voice, a loving heart and a wonderful smile. She enjoyed traveling with Jim to Switzerland to learn about the area and to experience Jim’s love of riding the Swiss trains. Lydia and Jim were founding members of the Puget Sound Garden Railway Society and spent numerous hours developing garden railways at their homes in Bellevue and Redmond.
Lydia loved her family and is survived by Jim, her loving husband of 64 years, her son Kenneth (Jennifer) and their daughters Lauren, Kyra and Makena Easley, and her daughter Kathleen Jensen, (Mark) and their sons Kristoffer (Sarah), Connor and Spencer Jensen.
At the time of Lydia’s passing, the family hoped to hold a celebration of life when the COVID-19 pandemic was over. Please check back here occasionally to see if once the restrictions have been lifted we can gather to honor Lydia for the life she led and the hearts she touched.
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