Lucille V. Bodeen

9 April 1924-15 April 2011

Lucille Bodeen, “Baseball Grandma,” crossed to the Diamond in the Sky after Eucharist with her children and family by her side.

Lucille moved to Yakima from the Seattle area in October, 2006. This difficult move took her away from daily contact with her daughter Vonnie Johnson, her Seattle community of family and friends, and her beloved Seattle Mariners. The move brought her closer to her sons, Chuck and Jim Bodeen, and their families who became her daily team.

Born Lucille Everson, Lucille was the eldest of two children by Carl Everson and Myra Peterson-Everson.

Lucille, a lifelong fan, and student of the game of baseball, was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and settled in Bowbells, North Dakota, where she graduated from high school. She married Wayne Bodeen in 1942, and they had three children in Bowbells. Lucille and Wayne moved to Seattle, Washington in 1956 where they raised their family in Lake City.

In addition to baseball, Lucille and Wayne introduced their family to camping, fishing, and a love of the Cascade Mountains. Wayne worked for Boeing and the family moved with Wayne to Huntsville, Alabama in 1964 at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Lucille and Wayne moved their family back to the north end of Seattle in 1969.

Lucille’s North Dakota dream of becoming a teacher was never realized, but her love of justice and the underdog, never wavered, and her three children became lifelong teachers. Her children remember listening to Major League baseball games on the Motorola radio in the North Dakota kitchen. Lucille whooped around the table when Willie Mays caught Vic Wertz’ slam during the 1954 World Series. Moves to the Northwest and Alabama, allowed Lucille and Wayne to take their children to the games.

After Wayne’s death and living in Kent, Lucille discovered she could take the bus to Mariner games in the Kingdome and later, Safeco Field. Lucille dressed for every game, wearing Mariner earrings, jersey, pants, socks and shoes. During the Ken Griffey/Lou Piniella era, Lucille began purchasing three season tickets to Mariner games. Lucille never missed a game, and the tickets in Section 331, brought her family closer as children and grandchildren sought tickets for game days. Lucille never left early and she didn’t miss any games. Families brought their children to say hello to Mariner Grandma and have their pictures taken with her. Grandkids brought their friends so they could meet their Grandma.

Lucille’s love of children and young people carried over to her knowledge of the game. She could discuss the players’ success on the field and to what was going on in their personal lives. She would chide Manager Lou Piniella for being too hard on young pitchers. She was particularly proud of a photo of Edgar Martinez and herself taken in a Puerto Rican airport. She would take friends and family to see, and touch her brick at Safeco Field that bore her name.

Lucille’s life can’t be summed up in a baseball game. It is a fact, though, that when Lucille moved to Yakima in 2006, the ushers, along with other season ticket holders, talked to Mariner executives and had her seats from Section 331 mounted on a platform and sent to her in Yakima so she could watch Mariner baseball on TV. Lucille had this effect on people throughout her life.

People loved to be around her. That’s the thing. Where ever she went, whatever she was doing, she brought people to her. Lucille worked as a housekeeper, a bookkeeper at Penney’s in Huntsville and Seattle, and in food demonstration in grocery stores.

There were no strangers in Mom’s house. What she created at Safeco Field was only a public image of her home. Lucille had the gift of empathy and gave it to those whose lives she touched.

One special relationship was with a young girl, Debra Vitalis-Tobierre, whose family later returned to the ancestral home in St. Lucia. As an adult, Debra flew Mom to St. Lucia so her children would know Lucille, the Grandma who made a difference in her life.

Lucille cooked, collected photos, and remembered North Dakota. She quilted, she gardened, she read books. For years she worked at the elections booth. She was a Den Mother, a PTSA member. A lifelong Lutheran, she educated her children in the Bible, and the parables of Jesus. She and Wayne took their kids to church. Lucille raised children who weren’t hers in the eyes of the world. In Lucille’s eyes, all the children belonged and belong.

Lucille and her husband, Wayne, had a great love of fishing, taking many trips to Puget Sound, and the Pacific Ocean. One special friend, Phyllis Hoenhous, sister of Lucille’s husband Wayne, considered herself a “true sister,” and once accompanied her on a fishing trip to Alaska.

Lucille Bodeen had three children, Jim Bodeen, (Karen), of Yakima; Chuck Bodeen, (Lena), of Yakima; and Vonnie Johnson, (Craig), of Maple Valley. She was grandmother to seven grandchildren: Tim Bodeen, Krista Bodeen, Leah Meiser, Tyler Johnson, Brian Johnson, Megan Johnson, and Gretchen Bodeen. She has ten great grandchildren: Julia, Nathan, Brent, Spencer, and Henry Johnson; Joshua and Samantha Meiser; Katie and Deanna Pappas; and Evelyn Johnson, child of Tyler and Kelli Johnson. Brian and Randi Johnson are expectant parents. Lucille is also survived by one aunt, Alice Hass, of Minot, North Dakota; sister-in-law Phyllis Hoenhous of Bothell; sister-in-law Gloria Everson of Beaverton, OR; and many nieces and nephews.

Lucille was preceded in death by her husband of 39 years, Wayne Bodeen in 1981, by her brother Alvin Everson in 1998, and by her grandson, Tyler Johnson in 2009.

Lucille Bodeen has been blessed with many loving hands of young caregivers and professional nurses at Ponderosa Retirement Home, Riverview Manor and the congregation at Central Lutheran Church. Her professional health care was led by her favorite Seahawk coming out of the backfield on third down, Dr. Daniel Doornink.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks that any donations be sent to American Cancer Society or the Multiple Sclerosis Association, Greater Northwest Chapter, 192 Nickerson Street, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98109.