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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Obituary: Parrish, Charlene

Age 54

PARRISH, Charlene (Ludwick) (Age 53) Charlene was a native of Spokane, she was born November 30, 1958 to Patricia Ludwick (Blancher) and Michael Ludwick.

Charlene was the youngest of three girls; her sisters are Sherry Hayes and Connie Feldhusen.

Charlene went to St. Xavier’s and Marycliffe; she graduated high school from Rodgers in 1977 and went to Eastern Washington University.

While at Eastern she was heavily involved in the Drama department; she graduated from Eastern in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in Teaching, major in English and minor in Drama.

After graduating from Eastern, Charlene met Steve Parrish, who was in the United States Air Force stationed at Fairchild.

They met at the Rocking Horse Saloon in Spokane.

Charlene and Steve were married on September 18, 1982 and in 1988, were blessed with a baby girl who they named Anna.

They moved to Alaska when Steve was transferred to Eielson Air force Base, near Fairbanks and in 1993 they were blessed with a baby boy who they named Kenneth.

In 1995 Charlene and her family moved back to Spokane where they have lived ever since.

For about the last ten years Charlene has worked for the most wonderful company, Burton Construction, and they had become like family to her.

In 2008, Charlene was diagnosed with an aggressive and very rare type of Leukemia.

She fought a hard and long fight for almost five years, during which she endured two bone marrow transplants and numerous chemo and radiation treatments.

On November 24th Charlene passed away in her home in Spokane.

Charlene’s family would like to thank Dr. Kirk Lund, oncologist, and his nurse Sandy for everything that they did for her and them; they would also like to thank all the nurses and staff in 7 South at Sacred Heart Hospital and the wonderful doctors, nurses and support staff at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

In lieu of flowers the family has asked for donations to Hospice of Spokane and leukemia cancer research to be made.

Viewing will be Thursday, November 29th and Friday, November 30th from 10am-5pm.

A Funeral Service will be held this Saturday, December 1, 2012, at 9:30am at Heritage Funeral Home on Government Way in Spokane.

There will be an open house shortly after the service at her daughters home from 1-5.