Elsie Mae Kunze

Elsie Mae (Rickenbach) Kunze was the youngest of Levi Oris and Ada (Ott) Rickenbach’s five children: Max (True), Joel (Rose), Don (Jean), Velma (Wally) DeVries, and Elsie (Vern) Kunze.  She grew up on a cattle ranch near Oelrichs, South Dakota, in a close knit and loving family and community.

Elsie’s life was rich with family, friends, community and work.  Elsie pursued nursing, getting her nursing degree from Dakota Wesleyan University school of nursing in 1950.  During her studies she met Vern Kunze and they were married in 1950 following their graduations.  The couple moved to Platte South Dakota where Elsie worked in a small hospital while Vern taught school.  In 1952 they moved to Chadron Nebraska where Vern taught and Elsie shifted to full-time parenting with the birth of their first child, Kent, in 1952.  Two more children followed: Linda in 1955 and Don in 1956.  The family moved to Iowa City, Iowa in 1957 so Vern could pursue his PhD in Speech Pathology at the University of Iowa.  In 1961 Vern accepted a position at the University of Washington and the family moved to Seattle, Washington.  After tending her children through early childhood, Elsie returned to nursing in 1968, taking a position at Northwest Hospital.  In 1973 Vern and Elsie moved to Durham, North Carolina where Vern headed Duke University Medical Center’s Speech and Hearing Program and Elsie worked in Duke Medical Center’s breast cancer research program.  Upon retiring from nursing Elsie began volunteering, most enjoyably as a docent in the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science.  Upon Vern’s retirement in 1991 the couple moved back to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to their three children and two granddaughters: Alex (1995) and Claire (1998).  They built a beautiful home in The Farm in Tumwater, Washington in 1992 where they lived together until Vern’s death in 2011.  Their home was a wonderful center of family life as the granddaughters grew up.  In 2013 Elsie moved to Olympics West Retirement Home where she lived until her death.

Elsie and Vern were life-long learners and loved music, art, bridge, and travel.  Everywhere Elsie lived she made lifelong friends: childhood friends, nursing school students, members of her church communities, Newcomers, people from a broad range of social and study groups, dear neighbors and professional colleagues. Her extended family was paramount and she kept close touch with cards, letters, phone calls and family reunions in the Midwest.  Being nearby and able to be active in her granddaughter’s lives was a great joy.  Elsie was well loved and was known for her caring, reaching out to others in whatever ways she could.  She lived a life filled with giving, learning, loving and joy.

Elsie is survived by her three children; Kent Kunze (Seattle), Linda Kunze (Olympia), Don Kunze (Seattle); granddaughters Alex Kunze (Washington DC) and Claire White (Lacey); daughter-in-law Susie Dade (Kent) and son-in-law Gordon White (Linda).