Annalee Mae Bosson
September 25, 1919 - May 13, 2016
Obituary
Annalee Eulogy
Our bags were packed .Rita and I had planned and booked a trip back in March to go this week on a vacation. We made all our necessary preparations , cancelling the newspaper , arranging for our mail to be picked up , having our plants watered ,etc. I had just finished packing my suitcase and had it at the top of our stair landing ,ready to be taken out to our ride to the airport the next morning . Just then we received a call from the Judson Park Health Center that, Annalee was not feeling very good. Rita said “I better go check on her , I’ll be right back.” About an hour later Rita returned from the Health Center . She entered our house and as she ascended up our stairs to our split entry house, she was in tears. She said “I don’t think she is going to make it this time “ I said “do you want to cancel our trip”? She said “yes I just don’t feel right in leaving” The next day I went with Rita to visit Annalee and I could see that we had made the right decision to cancel our trip . Annalee passed away that evening.
My whole point to the reference to Annalee’s passing and bags being packed is that Annalee had her life’s spiritual bags packed a long time ago . She was 96 and a half and had started to decline in her health . She had told us during that time she had made peace with herself and was ready to go. She knew she was ready and she wanted to go. In her apartment her daughters found a brief letter stating how wonderful her life had been and how she had been blessed with a support of love from her three daughters and their families. She said she was tired and she didn’t think she had long to live She ended with “I love you.”Her bags were packed , she was ready for her next journey. Annalee loved to joke and tell funny quips and cliches.One of them was in reference to time and scheduling an appointment in advance was, “ Heck at my age I don’t even buy green bananas.”
Annalee May Rue was born September 25th, 1919 ,in Elk Creek Washington, a little dot on the map,I don’t know if it even exist any more. A closer reference is Raymond Washington a small logging community in Pacific County near Aberdeen Washington. Her Parents were her father Harvey Lorenzo Rue and her Mother Elma Malinda Coffin Rue. They had five children . Arletha , Ellen, Annalee, Dwayne and Bernice. When Annalee was about six years old about 1926 both her parents passed away. Fourtualey Harvey Rue had belonged to a national fraternity organization call the Loyal Order of Moose. One of its benefits was they sponsored a privately owned orphanage for the survivors of their members family , if there wasn’t a next of kin to raise the survivors. At that time there wasn’t benefits such as Social Security and such. Annalee her sisters Ellen and Bernice and brother Dwayne were sent to Mooseheart Illinois. Her older sister Arletha was a half sister and she went to live with her biological father.
Mooseheart was located in rural Illinois and was over a thousand acres . It was a self a contained facility with farm land , dairy, bakery , cobbler ,seamstress tailor ,dormitory. Individual houses and school.This facility was more like a resort than an institution. It cared for the survivor children as well as some of the widows of the deceased members. Annalee said that even though there was a depression going on outside of her community , she would never have known it. Because they grew up living so well. When Annalee graduated from High school she had also graduated as a licensed beautician. After graduation Annalee came back to Raymond, Washington to live with her Aunt and grandmother. Coming back to Raymond after being raised in Illinois seemed too closed in with all of the tall trees making it feel too dark and damp. She moved back to Illinois and worked as a waitress . After two years she came back with her brother Dwayne who had now graduated. She spent a short time in Raymond before moving to Seattle. She got a job at Boeing . Once she said that during that time she received a letter from a boyfriend of her’s back in Mooseheart,.he had now settled in Chicago.He wrote Annalee ,that he wanted to her to come back to Chicago. Along with the letter he sent money for the train ride back to Chicago. Annalee said” I didn’t want to go back to Chicago so I didn’t answer his letter. I did keep the money however” and gave little chuckle as she told the story. Annalee loved to dance so one weekend she went to Angle Lake an area south of the city limits of Seattle . Every weekend the park hosted live music and dancing. There she met her soulmate for life Jack Bosson . Jack was smitten by her and and used his every gift of charm and wit he had to win her over. During their engagement court ship Annalee had a few falling outs and she would throw back her engagment ring to him .Of course those spats only last a brief time and they were soon love birds again.One example was Jack had lied about his age to Annalee , the truth of the matter was he was two years younger than that her , which would have made Annalee a couger. Annalee was furious when she found this out . However she relinquished her standards and they were married December 30th 1943.They were married till death did they part for 64 years.
In that era of time the United States was in the midst of a raging World War 11. Jack was drafted and was shipped to Fort Meade , Maryland for advanced training. Annalee did not want to be left behind , so she followed Jack to Maryland . She was able to get an apartment near the fort with a couple of other wives of soldiers who were stationed there, She tells the story how she got hired as a mail sorter at the Post Office on the army base. She said that the army truck would stop by the apartment to pick up the gals, they would all climb aboard the back of the tarped truck full of mail bags. Annalee said the only place to sit was on the mail bags as the truck went bumping along.She once told my father who had been stationed overseas during that time this story, he said “ No wonder all my cookies that were sent me were always crushed up when I would receive them.”
Soon after that Jack was to be sent overseas. Annalee had said their goodbyes and she boarded the bus that was leaving the army post. Jack was running alongside the bus
blowing kisses and Annalee was doing the same from window of the bus. He was so preoccupied that he didn’t see what his feet were doing and slipped causing his foot to go under the rear tire of the bus crushing his foot. Because of this bad injury he was given a medical discharged from the military service. He also was given a lot of teasing about this on how he was wounded in action.The couple returned to Seattle and started their future for the rest of their lives. They had three daughters Rita, Jill and Wendy. Jack and Annalee settled in the Burien area and relocated to Huntington Park about 1980. They lived there till they moved to Judson Park a retirement facility home till now. The first time I met Annalee was on my first date with Rita. I knocked on the door and Rita came to the door to let me in. She said “ Let me introduce you to my Mother before we go.” Next to the door was a very nice utility laundry room. It had a big wash basin and she was in the process of washing Wendy her younger daughter’s hair . As she came out of the laundry room wearing an apron and , drying her hands with a towel . She had a big smile on her face that I still remember to this day. Her smile put me at ease and made me feel welcome. She eventually became my mother-in-law.
But I never looked at her that way ,I saw her as my wife’s mother. I always heard mother in law jokes and how the motherinlaw gives her son-in-law fits. A good example of this is a popular song in the 60’s , “Motherin Law” by Ernie K Doe . It was a catchy tune but didn’t apply to me.When you look at all the photos of her that we have provided .You will see she always had that pleasant patented smile. Annalee love to tell stories and funny jokes. If she latched onto a joke she liked she would tell it over and over. Once when she was at her grand daughters wedding reception, the grooms men who were all close friends of the groom were toasting the newly wed groom.They were quoting literary excerpts of verses from Shakespeare and Longfellow and such. After a while Annalee decided that this pompous display of showing off your literary intelligence was getting boring. She stood up and tapped her wine glass with her fork to get everyone’s attention . She said “I have a toast I would like to give the newlyweds. “ The groomsmen were take back a little , but gave her the mic and motioned for Annalee to begin . She said”Here’s to the night of sweet repose , when it’s tummy to tummy and toes to toes. And after the act of sweet delight . It’s fanny to fanny the rest of the night”. It was an ice breaker for sure , which brought the house down in laughter ,the groomsmen had been upstage by Annalee. Up until six months ago , Annalee was very active and full of life . I remember she always wanted to be doing something. I once heard she wanted to go snow sledding with the kids in the mountains . Jack wasn’t too keen on going and wanted to watch a football game. Her brother in Law Herb said ”I’ll take you Annalee let’s round up the kids and let’s go”. They went and they had a ball.I remember once jill and her husband and Rita and I rented a fifty foot houseboat for a week on lake Shasta. Jack & Annalee also came down to spend a night with all of us on the boat. The kids sleeping arrangement was to sleep in sleeping bags on top of the house boat deck . We had nice comfortable beds for the adults in the two bedrooms of the boat. Annalee said “Nothing doing, I’m sleeping with the kids up stairs under the stars of the sky.” She loved changing things up a bit and having fun. You will see her in these different photos riding a Harley Motorcycle,Kayaking , feeding a llama , riding a horse ,taking a helicopter ride. While taken this helicopter ride around the puget sound , she asked the pilot “can you buzz Bill Gates house?” he said “I don’t think I better do that !” In closing she will be greatly missed by her immediate family and friends.
Annalee is survived by her three daughters Rita Games (Enez) Jill Dull (George) Wendy Asuncion 7 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren
We have many memories of our own of Jack, Annalee, and the girls. So many good years together in the same neighborhood! We wanted you to know that we will be praying for you. We’re never so old that we no longer need our parents in our lives. Such a beautiful, caring, and fun-loving lady!
Betty Wechsler, Judy Boyce, Nancy Siems, and Ann Mannering
My condolences to the family of my Great Aunt Annalee during this difficult time. Sounds like she had a wonderful life full of adventure and love from her family. Reminds me a lot of my Grandmother, her sister Arthlea.
Living on the East Coast for most of my life, we didn’t see a lot of the Bosson family, but I seem to remember attending a few Weddings the brief time we lived in WA and staying at their beautiful home the night before we were to fly back East for a new posting
God Bless!
Our heartfelt sympathy to your family. Loosing a Mother, no matter the age is a difficult thing. We are thinking of you.
I will miss my mother-in-law she and Jack were always nice to me I miss taking them on rides in the car love to the family
I have lived most of my life in Texas and had the opportunity to move back to Seattle and help care for my Mom & Dad (Annalee & Jack) later in years. Those were the most rewarding times in my life with my parents. Dad died of Parkinson’s Disease and Mom was so dedicated in the care of Dad and always made sure his every need was taken care of. At the same time Mom always maintained a sense of humor and continued to live live to the fullest. What I will miss most about my Mom is talking with her every day. When I called her in the evening she always had a little list of things she did that day so she wouldn’t forget to tell me all the news of that day, including a good joke she knew!
She was the best Mom ever and my best friend. She remains forever in my heart!
I love you my Mother – Daughter Jill in Texas
Grandma was such a special woman! Not only was she such a fantastic lady, she was a wonderful mother as she raised such wonderful daughters. Her jokes always made me smile and laugh – with her Love, I don’t know what is a better gift then that. I will sorely miss her, but she is now with her beloved husband and other loved ones. Grandma and Grandpa’s spirits are living on.