Lucille M. Gallion

Lucille M. Gallion died at the age of 100 on Thursday, July 18, at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane.

She was born on Oct. 18, 1912, to Frank and Nellie (Cronkhite) Bakerin in Vernon County, Missouri.

When she was four years old, her family traveled by train moving to northeast Montana and arriving near Malta on Nov. 16, 1916, in the middle of a freezing Montana winter.

In 1927, she began attending high school in Malta. While attending high school she worked for several different people, doing housework and cooking. She also served as a switchboard operator.

One of her brothers brought “Hoosier Bill” Gallion home and that’s how she met the love of her life. Although her mother disapproved, she was past 18 and they were married Nov. 22, 1930, and had four children. Her second son Wilbur died from diphtheria in 1940.

After living in several small towns in Montana they moved to Umatilla, Ore. in 1941. Following the job market, they moved several more times; to California, back to Oregon, then to the Engdahl farm southeast of Lind, in February 1944, where her youngest daughter was born.

She was a wonderful cook and loved it. She also was a “born to garden” person, always having a bountiful vegetable garden and spectacular Iris blossoms. She was also a great seamstress and loved to crochet.

Her husband, Bill, spent 20 years with Parkinson’s disease and she gave him the most loving care until his death in 1969. After Bill passed, she moved to Spokane where she continued gardening. She worked as a seamstress in a garment factory for a time and in a nursing home for a short time, too.

She is survived by her son, Roy Gallion of Spokane; daughters, Sharon (Bud) Englehart of Lind, Darlene Abney of Pendleton, Ore., and Karen Tinkham of Spokane; 16 grandchildren; numerous great- and great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Bill and her son, Wilbur Hugh; her parents, Frank and Nellie, two brothers and five sisters.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 26, at Heritage Funeral Home located at 508 North Government Way in Spokane. A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. at Fairmount Memorial Cemetery located at 5200 West Wellesley Avenue in Spokane, followed by a potluck at Karen’s home after the services.

Her wish was to suggest memorial gifts be made to Michael J. Fox Foundation, Grand Central Station, PO Box 4777, New York, NY 10163-4777 or online at http://www.michaeljfox.org, or a charity of your choice.

Heritage Funeral Home of Spokane is entrusted with the arrangements.