Elaine M. Rice

On Thursday, November 17, 2011, Elaine, 76 years young, died in Olympia; the town she had made her home for the past 31 years. She was born on November 2, 1938 to Lester and Bonnie (Watross) Carson, in the small town of Dayton, Washington. Elaine was the eldest of four children; she had one sister, Dorothy (Carson) Bert and two brothers, Fred Carson and Emery Carson. Elaine loved to cook and she came from a family of extraordinary chefs, in fact, food preparation was Elaine’s profession throughout her life. A traditional High School education was not the best fit for Elaine, so in 1958 she decided to attend Beauty School.

On December 26, 1954, Elaine married the love of her life, Paul Wayne Rice, a soldier in the U.S. Army. Army wife life suited Elaine well, she dearly loved to travel. When stationed in Alaska, their first daughter, Penny (Rice) Meissner, was born. Elaine was carrying their second daughter, Vicki (Rice) Thomte, when Paul received orders for military training in Ohio, they decided Elaine would move home to Dayton, WA, with her parents, to give birth and then they would all join Paul at a later date. It was during this time that Elaine attended Beauty School and in 1959 she and the two girls finally got to move to Ohio, where their last three children, Cindy (Rice) Fry, Ronald W. Rice and Michelle (Rice) Spenser, were born.

In 1965, Paul received deployment orders for Korea, Elaine and their five children moved back to Dayton after making one last family trip to California to visit Paul’s parents. Sometime after Paul’s deployment two uniformed Army personal arrived on Elaine’s doorstep with the most horrific news of her life; Paul had been killed in action. Elaine was left alone, at the age of 30, to raise five small children. Luckily, her parents and sister, Dorothy, were supportive and they helped out as often as possible. Elaine found work at Birdseye Cannery and then later at DeLuca’s in Walla Walla; she always this nagging feeling to follow her true passion of cooking.

Years later, in 1980, Elaine made the move over the mountains to join her daughter, Vicki, in Olympia. She worked at the Snack Bar at Southgate and later at Offutt Lake Resort, but in 1983 she was in terrible car accident which ended her cooking career. It was during this time that she joined the Bald Hills CB Club. She was known as “Gunny Sack” and was voted in as secretary, a position which she held and enjoyed for many years.

Elaine never did re-marry; her heart always belonged to Paul, which she showed by living life to the fullest! Elaine was a bit of a wild woman, she loved driving fast and staying out late. She adored riding her horse, Smokey, and had always been partial to cowboys. Elaine was particularly fond of wearing her cowboy boots and she wore them up until health issues made it impossible. Her shoe collection was something out of the movies. Her theory about shoes was the more stunning the better. Elaine loved to go out dancing not only to have a good time but to show off her shoes at the same time. In addition to her shoes, Elaine had a beautiful sweatshirt collection that is legendary. She found humor in a good dirty joke or funny story and she couldn’t help her pursuit for the latest and greatest cooking gadgets or anything “As Seen on TV”. Elaine loved cookbooks, cooking magazines, craft magazines, Snoopy and Maxine. Her favorite TV station was The Cooking Channel, and the only time she allowed the TV channel change was to watch NCIS, she never missed an episode.

Elaine was preceded in death by her husband, Paul, parents, Lester and Bonnie, and brother, Emery. She is survived by her five children, Penny, Vicki, Cindy, Ronald and Michelle, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Elaine dearly loved each and every one of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is truly loved and will be forever missed.