Mary Elizabeth "Emmy" Lovegren

1927 - 2011

Mary "Emmy" Elizabeth Lovegren, 83 of Anacortes, Washington died Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at Island Hospital in Anacortes, as a result of a stroke.

She was born in Seattle, Washington on November 5, 1927 the daughter of Stanley and Mary (Reese) Hermanson.

Emmy graduated from Queen Anne High School where she met her first husband, Harry Backman. They married in 1949 and raised their three children in Magnolia. After Harry's death in 1979, Emmy continued to teach elementary school in Seattle until her retirement in 1992. She then moved to Marrowstone Island where she and Harry had planned and built a vacation home.

She married Rod Lovegren in 1992 and they enjoyed travel and life on the island until Rod passed away in 1999.

Emmy then moved back to Seattle where she was able to enjoy the city and her many friends, until moving to Anacortes in 2008.

Emmy was a bright woman and graduated from the UW with her first degree in business and labor at age twenty before taking a job with the Teamsters and Dave Beck in Seattle. Next she and Harry had their three children, before she returned to get her Masters in Education. This was intermixed with the joys and challenges of raising a family, helping with school projects and attending swim lessons, sports events, or summer camps, and teaching the value of learning and a certain work ethic.

Emmy was a wonderful friend to so many, a great conversationalist, and a real motivator. She had a passion for children and the opportunities that education offered. Emmy had a beautiful smile which she always left in her wake, and was always happy in the company of friends and family, and when surrounded by the beauty of the waters and calm of Marrowstone Island.

She loved to travel, and visited six continents during her journeys. Emmy loved the chance to see her grandchildren, and watching them grow to adults with their own lives, was a joy. She loved to share Holidays with her family, and to have the chance to show them some of the wonder and magic of the world around them. And she knew it as a very wonderful world.

Emmy was preceded in death by her parents and her husbands, Harry Backman and Rod Lovegren.

She is survived by her sons and daughter-in-law, Mark and Karen Backman of Anacortes, William Backman of Nordland, WA; daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Robert Rankin of Alexandria, VA; grandchildren and spouses, Jon and Christina Backman and their son, Salvador, Kristin and Korey Johnson, Daniel Backman, Kelsey Anderson, Karl Stromberg, Anna Stromberg, and Viktor Stromberg.

Emmy's family wishes to thank the staff of Rosario and Fidalgo Care Center, and the nurses at Island Hospital for their kindness and care during her last three years in Anacortes.

A private memorial service will be held later this summer. Memorials are suggested to either Children's Hospital in Seattle or Island Hospital Foundation in Anacortes.

Arrangements are in the care of Evans Funeral Chapel and Crematory, Inc., Anacortes, WA and the San Juan Islands. To share memories of Emmy, please sign the online guest register at www.evanschapel.com.