Mabel Ruth Lewellen

Mabel Ruth Lewellen, 99, longtime Moses Lake resident, passed away at Summer Wood Alzheimer's Special Care Center on Thu. Feb. 9. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Thu. Feb. 16 at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Moses Lake with Pastor Darayl Larsen officiating. Viewing will be on Wed. Feb. 15 from noon until 7 p.m. at Kayser's Chapel. Interment will follow at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Ellensburg. Arrangements are in care of Kayser's Chapel and Crematory.

Mabel was born in Webb City, Okla., the daughter of Michael Harry Flanagan and Avis Olena Parker Flanagan. Later the family moved to Idaho, settling between Buhl and Castleford. The family operated a business, Ferry Freight across the Snake River from Castleford to Jar Bridge, Nev. using mule teams.

Mabel attended high school in Castleford where she met her future husband, Roy Dean Lewellen and they married June 10, 1925 in Twin Falls, Idaho. Their eldest child was born in Twin Falls and soon after the Lewellens moved to Elk then on to Ellensburg where the other children were born.

Mabel and her family struggled and worked hard while she attended classes at Ellensburg Normal School to get a teaching certificate and then on to higher education. She graduated with a B.A. from Central Washington College of Education and taught school most of her adult life.

When her husband died and she retired, she became a very active participant in government advisories committees, city, county, state and federal. She traveled the world and in her spare time, continued her education, always known as the "perennial student."

She is survived by four children, Faye Vickers Harris (Milt) Bosie Idaho, Georgia Benge Poway, Calif., Deana Buksas (Bill) Mesa, Ariz. and Roy Dale Lewellen (June) Moses Lake. Plus many grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brother, sister and grandson.