Edythe "Eadee" Benjamin

Edythe (Eadee) Vivien Benjamin was born August 3, 1922, to Ferdinand and Frieda Tordsen of Lakefield, Minnesota. She died in Spokane, Washington, on December 28, 2012, at age 90. She received her elementary education in a one-room country school, graduated from Lakefield High School in 1940, and in 1983 graduated from Spokane Falls Community College with a degree in Human Services. From the war years when employed at The Spokane Air Depot, to her work in the 1970s as a Red Cross volunteer and volunteer teacher at the Barton School teaching English to foreign students, to her service as a social worker with Lutheran Community Services, she contributed much to the community she lived in. She was a member of Fowler United Methodist Church since 1962. Our mother would’ve been married 71 years to Byron Benjamin this last Christmas Eve. They saw through the worst days of World War II as a married couple, apart for approximately three years due to the war effort. In the early 1940s, they took up residence in Spokane and eventually had a small lake place at nearby Loon Lake, where mother was inspired by wildflowers and birds and made wildland pictures as a hobby. She was preceded in death by her husband, Byron (in 2003), her parents, her brother, Clinton Tordsen, her grandson-in-law, Joe Budik, and a granddaughter, Deanna Woodley. She is survived by her two daughters and their husbands, Sherrida and John Woodley and Kris and Rick McCauley of Cheney, WA, four grandchildren, including Sabrina Budik of Laguna Beach, CA, Jessica Woodley of Cheney, Grant Reynolds of Chicago, IL, and Sam Russell of Spokane, and one great-grandchild, Kendra Budik of San Diego, CA. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, January 5, 2012, at Fowler United Methodist Church, 3928 N. Howard, Spokane. On January 3 and 4 (9:00 to 5:00) our mother can be visited at Riplinger Funeral Home in celebration of her life as well. She will be buried at Fairmount Memorial Cemetery. We want to thank all who remember her and remain appreciative of donations toward Hospice of Spokane for keeping her in their loving care the last days of her life.