Name: Graveside service for Ethelwyn Yerges
Start: 2017-04-29T19:00:00.000Z
Location: Fir Lane Memorial Park, Funeral Home, Chapel & Crematorium

Ethelwyn Yerges Age 90, passed away April 15, 2017 in Spokane Valley, WA surrounded by her immediate family. She was born October 6, 1926 in Horizon, WI to Claude A. and Irma E. Griffith. She worked in a foundry grinding castings while raising her family with her now deceased husband Marlow Yerges of 39 years. She was a proud member of the ladies auxiliary VFW post 8090 for nearly 70 years. She loved her pets and supported the ASPCA her entire life. She is survived by her two sons, Donald (wife Jane), Moxee, WA and Scott (wife Susie), Veradale, WA, 5 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren and two sisters in law Tiny Dowe of Blairsville, GA and Geri Yerges of Columbus, WI. She was an extremely well read individual with an incredible memory, rye whit and equal parts of sense and nonsense. She loved her family and we loved her. We will always cherish the time we had and are very proud that she was our mother. Graveside services will be held at Fir Lane Memorial Park on Saturday April 29, 2017 at 12 noon.

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Published by News Tribune (Tacoma) on Apr. 23, 2017.

Memories and Condolences
for Ethelwyn Yerges

Sponsored by Fir Lane Memorial Park, Funeral Home, Chapel & Crematorium.

4 Entries

Scott Yerges

June 10, 2017

For Mom
Here we stand next to my Dad and soon to be my Mother's gravesite. They are finally together again and perhaps reunited with everyone they've ever known and loved. I don't know for certain. I can only harbor the hope that is true, because it brings me strength and comfort. It also allows me to cope with the finality and aloneness that losing my parents leaves me with. I know my Mother found strength in believing she would be reunited one day and that's enough for me.
Mom was a shining example of what it takes to be strong and alone. Since my Dad's passing nearly 28 years ago in 1989, she spent too many hours alone with her own thoughts. Too many! She found strength through all of you that let her know you loved her and cared about her by staying in touch with her. Birthday and holiday cards and random phone calls to say; how are you?, sustained her. Thank you for that. I know how much she appreciated it because she shared it with me nearly every time she heard from someone.
She also found comfort in caring for and loving her pets through the years. I swear she spoke their language and they hers. She connected with them on a level only they shared together. She even had a parakeet that lived for 19+ years and while she was on a rare trip with one of her friends, Susie and I volunteered to watch her parakeet. She was only gone like 10 days and don't you know it, that parakeet died on our watch. Loneliness for my mom I guess?
My mother possessed an incredible memory and payed attention to details more than nearly anyone. We have stacks of diaries that she filled out and kept over the years. When the dust settles and our hearts are not as fragile as they are now, I plan to go through them. They will be a rewarding trip down memory lane.
She read countless books about nearly everything and when the ravages of time took her eyesight, audio books became her best friend thanks to Jane for hooking her up with the talking book folks. I think she went through nearly their entire catalog. Without a doubt, she was the most well read, knowledgeable person I will know. She held facts and figures and stories in her memory bank that provided endless hours of entertainment for her and for us as well, as she shared with us what she had learned.
After 90 years her body finally failed her but her mind never did. Books were clearly her friends and she passed that passion for knowledge and curiosity on to us. So, to my children I say; never lose your curiosity. That is the gift that Grandma gave all of you. Cherish it as it will keep you young at heart. It did her.
If you care, you'll remember her Grandmother Emma once told her and I. Boy, did that hit home with me. I was like 7 years old. My mom lived that mantra her entire life. There is no clearer sign of the love we have for one another. Mom remembered details and dates important to others because they mattered to her.
She protected and loved her friends and especially her family. She was enormously proud of Donald and I and our families. She shared that pride with others at nearly every opportunity. At times, it was hard to live up to the image she projected and held of us in her heart. She always said what she thought and at times it was difficult to swallow what she said, but it all came from the heart and throughout our lives we knew she loved us more than she loved herself.
I feel I knew my mother well, and over the past 18 months, since her fall, she shared stories of her childhood and life experiences with Susie and I and we learned so much. I took notes so that I wouldn't forget. I wish we had spent much more time reminiscing with her as I feel I will always be haunted by what I will never know about her.
There are no words for times like these, however I feel the French say it best: Au Revoir, mom. We'll see you again and we can pick up where we left off.
We love you.