Gwendolyn Faye Saladin (age 78) passed away peacefully at home in Spokane, in the presence of her family on August 31, 2018. Gwen was born December 18, 1939, in Houston, Texas to Henry Hinton Rosser and Mary Estle (Robison) Rosser. She spent her early childhood days in Highlands, Texas and graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas, in 1958. After attending Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, and California State – Long Beach, she graduated from Baylor University in 1963, with a Degree in English. She married Richard A. Saladin on June 14, 1964 in Spokane where they lived and raised their family.
She taught English in the West Valley School District for a few years before starting a lifelong career in children ministries, first at Glad Tidings church in Spokane, then at Joy Bell Christian Pre-school and finally until the end at Spokane First Assembly where she influenced generations of young children, shared wisdom with parents and mentored others in to ministry. When she was not at the church, she enjoyed delving into books and deepening her knowledge of God’s word. She always had her grandkids backs and took every opportunity to attend school events, take them on individual birthday shopping trips and prepare them scrambled eggs for breakfast. Her love for kids, her desire for them to know Christ and her fierceness for the truth were her life’s passions.
Gwen was preceded in death by her husband of 37 years Richard, her brother Charles Rosser, and her parents Hinton and Estle Rosser. She is survived by her siblings Herschel Rosser and wife Lucie of San Antonio, Texas, Patti Lee and husband Don of Clarkston, Washington, Steve Rosser and wife Carol of Austin, Texas and Jana Rosenbaum of Houston, Texas; brother-in-law Curt Schmitz, sisters-in-law Marlyn Pugsley and Kathleen Saladin all of Spokane and numerous nieces and nephews; son Mike Saladin and wife Jodie of Spokane, daughters Kristi Hovde and husband Doug of Puyallup and Jan Stachofsky and husband Sam of Spokane; and the joys of her life, her 10 grandchildren MacKenzie, Jonah and Caleb Saladin; Drew, Josh and Kacy Hovde; Richele, Nicola, Eli, and Sami Stachofsky.
There will be a family graveside service at 1 PM at the Pines Cemetery followed by a memorial service at First Assembly 828 W. Indiana at 3PM, Saturday September 8th. There will be a viewing on Friday night September 7th from 7PM until 9PM at Hazen & Jaeger Funeral Home, 1306 N. Monroe St.
