Ingeborg A. Vanourek

April 22, 1930 – April 2, 2017

Ingeborg A. Vanourek returned home to our Lord on April 2, 2017. Inge was born on April 22, 1930 in Vienna, Austria, the first child of Josef and Karoline (Friedenreich) Stattek. She grew up in the German Sudetenland region. Following World War II, her family was forcefully repatriated to Soviet-controlled East Germany, where she graduated from high school in 1948. She then attended a Lutheran Deaconess Nursing school in Berlin, graduating in 1952. Soon after, she fled to West Germany, working as a Registered Nurse in Frankfurt, Germany. She immigrated to the United States on Jan. 1, 1959, settling in Moses Lake, Wash. She married Jiri Vanourek in 1959 and raised three children in Moses Lake and Othello, Wash. She became a proud U.S. citizen in 1969. She returned to work as an RN at the Othello Convalescent Center, retiring in 1995. She relocated to Yakima, Wash. in 2001 and lived there happily in retirement.

Inge was a strong woman of faith, loving and proud of her children and grandchildren. She cared deeply about her family and friends both in the USA and Germany. She enjoyed classical music, as well as fine china and crystal. She loved the ocean and the beach. She read the newspaper daily and loved watching figure skating during the Winter Olympics.

Inge is survived by her son, Lt. Col. (ret) Thomas Vanourek, his wife Ann Marie and their children, Nicole, Mathew and Heather of North Bend, Wash.; her son Peter Vanourek and Cindy Castenada and his children, Stan and Stephanie of Othello, Wash.; her daughter Sylvia (Vanourek) Whitmer and her husband Scott and their children Grace, Hannah and Ben Whitmer of Yakima, Wash. She also leaves behind her sister Irmgard (Herbert) Mosch of Berlin, Germany; her brother, Helmut (Karin-dec) Stattek of Bernburg, Germany; her nephew Mathias Stattek; her niece Manuela Schreiber and numerous cousins in Germany.

A celebration of Inge’s life will be held on Saturday, April 29 at 2 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church in Yakima, Wash., with a reception to follow. Extended family and friends are cordially invited to attend.