Obituary: Blomquist, Marianne Ida Louise (Hakola)
Age 85
Preceded in death by her parents John and Vieno Hakola and older brother Edward, she was born in 1929 in Hoquium, WA where her father, (a member of the Industrial Workers of the World at the time) was working in the lumber industry.
Her childhood in the Great Depression was marked by a number of family moves through Washington and North Idaho before finally landing her in Cheney where, in high school and college, she made several friends for life.
Her parents, each a child of Finnish immigrants, met at a Finn Hall dance in Spokane’s Peaceful Valley…according to family legend.
Her paternal grandfather, a miner, died in 1904 and was buried in the Nine Mile Cemetery above Wallace, but her grandmother would live until the 1960s on land she and her second husband had settled on the North Fork of the Coeur d ‘Alene River and Coke often spoke of times spent with her grandmother there as among the best of her childhood.
It’s on her beloved North Fork that the family intends to sprinkle her ashes.
In 1950 she married Theodore (“Ted”) Blomquist, a dentist originally of Waubun, Minnesota, at Spokane’s Central Lutheran Church and settled on the South Hill to raise a family, eventually divorcing in 1971.
It was then that Coke went back to school to study nursing and went on to work as an R.N.
in several area hospitals and institutions before she retired.
She loved traveling - two trips to Europe and another to Egypt in her later years - movies (Omar Sharif!
), music, and President Obama, and often spoke of her faith in God as the source of her strength as she faced life’s more difficult challenges.
A wiz on the sewing machine justly reputed for her exquisite homemade bread, Coke was cherished by her countless friends for her sense of humor, lively curiosity, and unlimited store of empathy.
She is survived by her brothers: Don, Jerry and Denny; as well as her five children: Eric (Spokane), Theo (Paris), Dan (Silvis, Illinois), Kurt (Seattle) and Melanie (Kirkland); and four grandchildren: Stephen, Andrew, Madison and Copeland.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Heritage Funeral Home, 508 N. Government Way, Spokane 99224, on Monday, December 7th between 1 and 3 pm.
Donations in her memory will be welcomed at Planned Parenthood: https://www.ppgwni.org (or by mail): Planned Parenthood GWNI, 123 E. Indiana Ave., Spokane, 99207.