Obituary: Magnuson, Colleen (Burns)
Age 85
Colleen Burns Magnuson was born on July 24, 1929, in Webber, Kansas, to Frank and Maye Burns.
She was raised with her older brother, Calvin, and younger brother, John.
The Burns family left Kansas for the Northwest in 1936, ultimately settling in Osburn, Idaho.
Colleen’s father secured work in the Coeur d’Alene Mining District and Colleen’s mother served for many years as the Postmistress.
Colleen was 16 years old in 1946 when she graduated from Wallace High School.
Shortly thereafter, she pursued courses in Boise to learn shorthand and other secretarial skills - and soon was back in Wallace working for Attorney Walter Hanson, former state legislator and Mayor of Wallace during the “Big Burn” fire of 1910.
On December 29, 1947, Colleen Burns met Harry F. Magnuson, a former Naval officer who had recently received degrees from the University of Idaho and Harvard Business School and returned to his hometown of Wallace to begin his business career.
Harry became the love of Colleen’s life.
Wed in St. Alphonsus Church in Wallace on July 22, 1950, Harry and Colleen were married for nearly 59 years.
Colleen was the steady hand with Harry in raising a large, loving and sometimes boisterous family.
Quietly, Colleen was also the indispensable presence in helping Harry to build and operate what became his business empire, spanning mining, real estate, banking and newspaper interests.
The Magnusons together engaged in the unstinting pursuit of community service and philanthropy, often anonymously.
Colleen was a passionate advocate for the arts, and a talented creator and admirer of beauty.
She was appointed to two terms to the Idaho Commission on the Arts by Governor Cecil Andrus, serving from 1987 to 1995.
She helped develop the Spirit of the West: A Celebration of the Arts, an exhibit that traveled throughout Idaho during the Centennial in 1990.
In 1994, Colleen received the Governor’s Award for Support of the Arts in the State of Idaho.
Colleen was an avid gardener and landscape designer.
Her dahlia gardens were among the largest in the Northwest and her hosta collection was visited by the American Hosta Society.
Colleen designed and, along with Harry, donated the Harry and Colleen Magnuson Park to the City of Wallace.
Colleen and Harry were committed advocates for and benefactors of higher education.
They were long-time, generous supporters of the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, Washington State University and Gonzaga University.
In the early 1970s, when Gonzaga was threatened with closure by local banks, Harry and Colleen Magnuson personally guaranteed the University’s debt.
This enabled Gonzaga University to survive and helped set it on course to its current success.
They established the Harry F. and Colleen B. Magnuson Family Scholarship, which has helped 77 North Idaho students to attend Gonzaga, and funded renovation of the University’s theater, re-named the Harry F. and Colleen B. Magnuson Theatre.
In 2009, in recognition of these contributions over nearly 50 years, the Magnusons received Gonzaga University’s Ignatian Spirit Award.
The Magnusons were deeply involved in the decades-long efforts toward preservation and restoration of the Mission of the Sacred Heart in Cataldo, the oldest standing building in Idaho.
They worked to build the Visitors Center and install Sacred Encounters, the permanent exhibition of Jesuit and Native American artifacts which opened in 2011.
Colleen was a founder and long-term benefactor of the Wallace Arts Center.
She also supported her husband in his tireless efforts to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of Wallace.
Colleen Magnuson was known by all as an elegant woman, with her own inimitable sense of style.
And yet, she was reserved and totally, unalterably dedicated to her family.
She was a beloved and peerless wife and mother, and a spectacularly fun, attentive and loving grandmother.
She will be remembered for the extraordinary tenacity, grace and dignity with which she faced, and overcame, health challenges over the course of many years.
She defied the predictions of a succession of doctors by beating the odds in dangerous surgeries.
She lived with equanimity and good cheer.
For the last two years of her life, she was wheelchair-bound, but undaunted and grateful for every new day.
Until the very end, she still had “work to do” - and she did it with class and inspiration.
She is survived by two daughters, Kathleen Magnuson Sheppard (Burton) and Mary Elizabeth Magnuson; three sons, Harry James Magnuson (Nita), Thomas Robert Magnuson (Melissa), and John Magnuson (Holly Houston); and her grandchildren, Jimmy and Clancy Magnuson; David, Flora and Daniel Sheppard; Wei Wei Magnuson; Tyanne Jacklin; Franklin Magnuson, Emily Rapp, Adam and Jesse Graves.
Rosary will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11, at the Gonzaga University Student Chapel in College Hall on the Gonzaga campus.
Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 12, at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 330 E. Boone Ave.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Harry F. and Colleen B. Magnuson Scholarship Fund at Gonzaga University, 502 E. Boone Ave., Spokane, WA 99258.
Please read Colleen’s memorial and sign her online guestbook at hennesseyfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Hennessey Funeral Home & Crematory, Spokane.