Russel Neil Rehm

Dr. Russel Neil Rehm, a longtime resident of Mount Vernon, Washington, peacefully passed away the morning of Tuesday, May 27, 2025 from complications of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) at Providence Hospital in Everett, Washington. In his final sacred moments, Russ was surrounded by the love and presence of his family. Leaving their love twenty minutes after being put on palliative care, he entered the love of the great cloud of witnesses awaiting him in Heaven at 11:11 AM. He was 78 years old and had spent the last 78 days of his life afflicted with GBS.
Russ was born in Dickinson, North Dakota on September 20, 1946, to Fred and Ruth (Hoerauf) Rehm. The Fred Rehm family lived in Hebron, North Dakota where Russ enjoyed a childhood of freedom to explore and adventure in the small farming town where he had both Rehm and Hoerauf family to keep an eye on him. Eventually his father's job took the Rehm family to live in Colorado, California, Arkansas, and finally to Pasco, Washington.
During his sophomore year at Pasco High School, Russ met Mary Ann Finney. She became his best friend and on July 5, 1969 the two wed. They were married 47 years until Mary Ann's swift and unexpected death on January 24, 2017.
After graduating in 1964 from Pasco High School, Russ traveled cross-country to Kings Point, New York. He spent the next four years studying engineering at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. His stories of this season of life consisted of studying, more studying, and a whole lot of mischief. In 1968, Russ graduated Valedictorian of his class with a special commission as ensign in the Naval Reserve and a B.A. in Engineering.
Upon graduation from the Merchant Marine Academy, Russ traveled back to Washington State to spend the holidays with Mary Ann's family while his own family was living abroad in India. As the story goes, when Mary Ann opened the front door to find Russ standing there in his USMMA uniform, cupid's arrow struck and romance swept into their relationship. Russ moved back to Seattle and found a job as the third engineer on the S.S. Bengali Mail. By this point in his life he had been around the world twice and across the Pacific five times on ships.
In the late spring of 1968, Russ came across an advertisement placed by Dick Ewing in the Seattle Post Intelligencer which read: "Attention adventurers! Motorcycle expedition across Africa." With Mary Ann's blessing, he contacted Dick and was brought aboard the five man Trans-African Motorcycle Expedition to cross the great Sahara Desert on 125cc Rapidos motorcycles. Their five month expedition would become a documentary and a book, and an experience of a lifetime that brought Russ back into deep relationship with Jesus through two precious missionaries in the village of Tamanrasset.
When Russ returned home to Seattle, he and Mary Ann were wed and almost one year later the two "newly-weds" went on their honeymoon in June 1970. They loaded up their Harley-Davidson Sportster, drove across the country visiting family along the way, put the Harley onto a Norwegian freighter, and set sail for Europe. The next four months were spent adventuring through eight European countries, back across the Atlantic, and finally home to Seattle. Russ started working again as a first-class engineer at a local hospital and Mary Ann as a registered nurse.
On July 16, 1971, the couple welcomed their first born, Rebecca "Becky" Sarah into their family. Three years later, on July 20, 1974, they welcomed their son Jeremiah Paul into the family. At that point Russ and Mary Ann were a part of the Jesus movement and both had experienced Holy Spirit revival in their souls. Their encounters with Jesus and Holy Spirit transformed their lives and they felt called to go into full-time ministry. They packed their young children into a yellow 1974 VW Bug and moved to Iliff School of Theology in Colorado where Russ became an ordained United Methodist pastor. Years later he would attain his Doctorate in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in California. Russ' ministry with the United Methodist Church would take his family from the Waterville Federated Church in Waterville, Washington, to Bellevue First United Methodist Church in Bellevue, Washington, to his last pastorate at Avon United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon, Washington. Some of Russ' ministerial legacy include, starting a vibrant Holy Spirit led and extremely well attended second service at the Bellevue UMC, building a fellowship and Sunday school hall that connected the parsonage and the original church building at Avon UMC, growing the weekly attendance at Avon through his "out of the box" yet theologically sound sermons, teaching a well-attended and highly liked "Faith of our Fathers and Mothers" adult Sunday school class for ten years at Bethany Covenant Church, but perhaps his most memorable legacy is the ten years he and Ed Purkey co-directed the unforgettable United Methodist Church Senior High Summer camps at Ocean Park Camp bringing the Bible to life for hundreds of high school aged kids. In addition to these ministries, Russ married dozens of couples, baptized babies, performed numerous funerals, counseled men, and alongside his wife Mary Ann spent decades as a marriage counselor. In total, Russ spent 20 years of his life officially in the pulpit, but he spent his whole adult life living out the love of Jesus Christ through friendship, compassion, kindness, servanthood, and generosity.
When he was 45 years old, Russ left full-time church ministry to begin Doulos Construction. For thirty-three years Russ led the Doulos brotherhood as the crew grew from a single individual to a twelve-person crew with a positive reputation in the Skagit Valley and beyond. Along with Russ, these skilled and hard-working craftsmen remodeled any part of a home and built houses from the ground up. They became like family to Russ and he led them with respect, tough love, and extreme generosity. The morning he was afflicted with GBS, Russ was up at 5:30 AM getting dressed to meet the Doulos brotherhood by 6:30 at Home Depot for their daily prayer, fellowship, and work assignments. Very true to his word, Russ never retired. Three of Russ' Doulos legacies include designing and building an addition onto Becky and Jeff's home where he and Mary Ann lived for the last 20 and 12 years respectfully of their lives, designing and building "Sleepy Hollow" for Jeremiah and his son Tyus, and designing and building the 8th Street Triplex in Mount Vernon.
Perhaps Russ' greatest legacy will be his family. He was a faithful husband to his wife Mary Ann for 47 years, a loving, protective and supportive father for 53 years, and a fun, generous and interactive grandfather for 23 years. He loved his family deeply and worked diligently to provide a good life for them. He was a man who loved Jesus and extended that love to others through his service, generosity, kindness, and friendship. He was a man who was a life-long learner and an adventurer at heart.
After his wife Mary Ann passed away in 2017, Russ met Yvonne Lindquist and the two of them spent the next eight years devoted to having happy days with each other. Russ and Yvonne enjoyed trips that included the Christmas Bazaar in Germany, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a dude ranch in Wyoming, a tall mast sailing trip in Maine, a catamaran trip off Florida and many, many events in Birch Bay, Washington.
Russ was preceded in death by his parents Fred and Ruth (Hoerouf) Rehm, his in-laws John and Emily (Patten) Finney, and his wife Mary Ann Finney. He is survived by his daughter Becky (Rehm) Dutton, her husband Jeff, his son Jeremiah Rehm, his three grandchildren Spencer (Dutton), Hannah (Dutton), and Tyus (Rehm), his sister Georgia Findling, her husband Keith and their children and grandchildren, his brother Todd Rehm, and his partner of eight years Yvonne Lindquist.
A Celebration of Life Service for Russ will be held on what would have been his 79th birthday, Saturday, September 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM at Bethany Covenant Church in Mount Vernon, Washington. 1318 S 18th St, Mount Vernon, WA.