Obituary: Gumm, Marian E.
Age 92
She was born and raised on a homestead with six siblings.
They were poor, but tough and happy, attending a one room school with children from only three other families.
She left home to go to high school in Bowman, ND, living in a milk house for one year.
She graduated in Applington, IA, in 1939 and moved to Spokane.
She finished nurses training at Deaconess in 1943.
She worked at Alcoa Trentwood operating a forklift prior to joining the Army Nurse Corps in 1945.
During her service, she cared for Americans who had been POW’s.
After leaving the Army in 1946, she worked at Deaconess and Colfax Hospitals, and at LA County Hospital during a polio outbreak.
She married Emmett Gumm in 1948, learning to cook on their honeymoon in Applington.
She worked at Swedish Hospital in Seattle to put Emmett through school at UW.
She was a happy housewife in Spokane while Emmett taught school in the Central Valley School District.
They raised sons Bill and Bruce, built a home and, in their spare time, a lake cabin.
She liked to garden and canned anything the kids and dog didn’t tear up.
She didn’t like doing boys’ laundry, finding forgotten dead things in pockets.
She was a den mother, a room mother, a block watch volunteer, and a nurse for the kids in the neighborhood and extended family.
She became a Christian in 1976 and pestered her pastor and Sunday school teachers with difficult questions.
She hosted block parties and Bible studies, raising cholesterol counts whenever she could with homemade desserts.
Her kitchen was a welcome place for encouragement to her friends.
We want to thank Hospice of Spokane and Family Home Care.
She is survived by her husband, two sons, and sister Grace.
She looked forward to Heaven after COPD took the fun out of life.
A Memorial Service will be held Tuesday, June 11 at 2:00 pm at Shiloh Hills Fellowship, 207 E Lincoln Rd, Spokane, WA 99208.