Rea Claudine West

August 17, 1925 – February 2, 2018

Rea Claudine West, 92, loving wife, mother and grandmother passed away Feb. 2, 2018 at the Columbia Basin Hospital, Ephrata, Wash. after a very brief illness.

Born in Odessa, Wash. on Aug. 17, 1925. Claudine was the youngest child of Claus (C.C.) Dobson, an early settler and owner of the Odessa Meat Market, and the only child of his wife, homesteader Mary Haubenschild-Dobson.

Claudine was raised and educated in Odessa after which she attended University of Southern California as a Music Major. After returning to Odessa she married James Lyons, from which marriage four children were born. She delighted in being part of the church choir and organist. In addition to the family farm, Claudine and Jim established a photography business that included events and school photos throughout Lincoln County. She also worked several years as a bank clerk at the Odessa Seattle First Branch, as well as several years at the U & I Sugar Beet Factory and as a secretary at Menan Starch Company in Moses Lake, Wash. Claudine would then marry Bob West and together they traveled all 50 states as well as visited Canada, Mexico, Panama and England. Every year they rested a couple of summer months in Moses Lake.

A stroke simply slowed her down, but her spunk but could not be stopped. Claudine had a wonderful sense of humor and an excellent mind and took great pride in reciting names and birthdates of all her descendents. Doing math in her head amazed everyone. She was an accomplished seamstress, musician and artist. As a child of the Great Depression she would always make ends meet. In her later years she would say to all that she was living the life and that she had all she could ever want. Being able to still grocery shop and attend her Lunch Bunch brought her great joy.

She was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her parents and her step-siblings Leon, James and Florence Pavliska. She is survived by her children Myrna “Mona” (Hal), Milo (Soozie), Jadine (Dan) and Bradley (Arlene) and by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the staff at the Samaritan Hospital and Columbia Basin Hospital for the wonderful care and compassion that Claudine received while she was there.

A private family celebration of life is planned for a later date.