Mary Kathleen Rathke

1943 - 2022

Mary Kathleen Rathke
September 24, 1943 - December 23, 2022
Lacey, Washington - Mary Kathleen Rathke entered the world on September 24th, 1943, and passed from this life on December 23rd, 2022. She blessed the world every day she lived! The oldest of ten, she grew up in Port Orchard, Washington. Mary attended Our Lady Star of the Sea parish school (commuting to Bremerton via foot ferry with her siblings) and graduated from South Kitsap High School.
She lived in Seattle, Lynnwood, Allyn, and most recently Lacey, Washington. She made finding and building a community look easy. Everyone was always welcome at the Rathke house and Mary was always up for fun. She made anyone who entered her home feel special and appreciated-especially if you got to hear her contagious laugh.
Mary could drive anything with wheels. One of the first female truck drivers in Washington State, she began her career in 1974 and drove until her retirement. She helped to build the Kingdome, the third runway at SeaTac, several bridges on I-90 in the Cascades and helped to pave many roadways in the region. She hauled steel, cement, and asphalt, and was comfortable behind the wheel of a belly dump or a dump truck and trailer. Mary was a wonderful feminist! She endured many challenges as a woman in her industry-but Mary was a problem solver and always found that kindness won the day. If her truck broke down, she would come in with freshly baked cookies for the mechanics and her truck was soon fixed.
Our Mary loved learning. She always had a stack of books ready to read and share. She returned to college in 1990 to finish her bachelor's degree while working full-time with two kids at home. She absorbed knowledge everywhere she could and even earned her Master Hand Knitter certification in retirement.
Mary is preceded in death by her beloved son Nicholas, parents Harriet and Harold Thomas, brother Kevin (Packy), and sister Stephanie. She is survived by her husband William Rathke; her children Matheau Rathke (Tracy), Michael Rathke (Becky Daniels), and Amy Rathke; her grandchildren Taylor (Henry) Ramsey, Matty Rathke, Emma Rathke, and Zoe Whorton; her great-grandchild Ingrid Ramsey; and her siblings Rose, Jim, Mona, Margaret, Joel, Walter, and Shannon, their partners, and many nieces and nephews.
A funeral mass was held at on December 30, 2022, at St. Michael Parish in Olympia, WA. The family is planning a celebration of life for spring/summer 2023 and will update her many communities with those details on the Mills and Mills Funeral Home website.