Verna Andrusak
Verna “Bea” Bernice Andrusak, 98, passed away Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, in Lewiston. She was born Verna Bernice Holt on Nov. 9, 1921, to Asby Ottis Holt and Flora Isabel Bramlet in Craigmont. How do you sum up a beautiful life of 98 years in a few paragraphs? The common phrase is that a light in this world has gone out. Mom loved and was loved by all who knew her. If you didn’t have a mom, she became yours. No one else existed if there were children in the room. She loved children and taught kindergarten at First Christian Church for years. Mom picked kids up every Sunday from NICH to take them to church and babysat for many working mothers for years; there was not a single solitary prejudiced bone in her body. In the 60s, she reached out to the one single Black lady living in this valley and took her to church and refused to let her walk behind her and even made this lovely lady go in through the door ahead of her. That was mom’s character. Everyone had value. Everyone. If you walked into the church alone, she sat with you. Her personal written poetry on her homemade cards was famous. If you got one, you held onto it. Even though cooking wasn’t her forte, when you walked through her doors you were fed. Her home was where relatives and friends gathered. She had the longest running First Christian/River City Church women’s prayer group in her home, lasting 50 years. Mom was also an amazing artist. Who knew? Had she received training in her younger years, you would now be an owner of one of her paintings. From humble beginnings, mom became an R.N. in the ’40s and was in the second set of nurse’s training classes taught by the nuns at St. Joseph’s Hospital. During WWII, she joined the Army and became a first lieutenant and was stationed in California, taking care of the war-wounded paraplegics. That was her favorite job because she got to see all of the movie stars and even took Van Johnson’s temperature. I heard about that one all my life. She married my father, Theodore Andrusak, on May 10, 1950. She loved Jesus and she didn’t care if you were offended by that, she loved you anyway. A word of warning — if you were in her life and do not personally know the love of God, I guarantee you she’s nagging Jesus to hound you until you give up. Just saying. She is survived by her siblings, Richard Holt, Virgil Holt and Carol Adelson; daughter Cynthia J. Andrusak Hardin; grandchild Will Holt Hardin; four great-grandchildren; and many children whom she claimed as her own. She was preceded in death by her parents and husband, Ted. Bea will be cremated and buried with her husband at Mountain View Cemetery in the Lewiston Orchards. Due to the present gathering restrictions, there will be no memorial service. Last Mother’s Day, I shared on Facebook that she was near the end of her life and asked everyone to tell mom to her face how much she meant to them rather than telling me at her funeral. She received and read mountains of letters and cards. Lots of relatives, friends and neighbors past and present paid her a visit. What a fabulous response and overwhelming actions of love shown to her. She greatly enjoyed her own memorial. There will be a video reel of mom’s life posted on the internet on her 99th birthday, Nov. 9. 2020.Obituary
Verna “Bea” Bernice Andrusak, 98, passed away Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, in Lewiston. She was born Verna Bernice Holt on Nov. 9, 1921, to Asby Ottis Holt and Flora Isabel Bramlet in Craigmont. How do you sum up a beautiful life of 98 years in a few paragraphs? The common phrase is that a light in this world has gone out. Mom loved and was loved by all who knew her. If you didn’t have a mom, she became yours. No one else existed if there were children in the room. She loved children and taught kindergarten at First Christian Church for years. Mom picked kids up every Sunday from NICH to take them to church and babysat for many working mothers for years; there was not a single solitary prejudiced bone in her body. In the 60s, she reached out to the one single Black lady living in this valley and took her to church and refused to let her walk behind her and even made this lovely lady go in through the door ahead of her. That was mom’s character. Everyone had value. Everyone. If you walked into the church alone, she sat with you. Her personal written poetry on her homemade cards was famous. If you got one, you held onto it. Even though cooking wasn’t her forte, when you walked through her doors you were fed. Her home was where relatives and friends gathered. She had the longest running First Christian/River City Church women’s prayer group in her home, lasting 50 years. Mom was also an amazing artist. Who knew? Had she received training in her younger years, you would now be an owner of one of her paintings. From humble beginnings, mom became an R.N. in the ’40s and was in the second set of nurse’s training classes taught by the nuns at St. Joseph’s Hospital. During WWII, she joined the Army and became a first lieutenant and was stationed in California, taking care of the war-wounded paraplegics. That was her favorite job because she got to see all of the movie stars and even took Van Johnson’s temperature. I heard about that one all my life. She married my father, Theodore Andrusak, on May 10, 1950. She loved Jesus and she didn’t care if you were offended by that, she loved you anyway. A word of warning — if you were in her life and do not personally know the love of God, I guarantee you she’s nagging Jesus to hound you until you give up. Just saying. She is survived by her siblings, Richard Holt, Virgil Holt and Carol Adelson; daughter Cynthia J. Andrusak Hardin; grandchild Will Holt Hardin; four great-grandchildren; and many children whom she claimed as her own. She was preceded in death by her parents and husband, Ted. Bea will be cremated and buried with her husband at Mountain View Cemetery in the Lewiston Orchards. Due to the present gathering restrictions, there will be no memorial service. Last Mother’s Day, I shared on Facebook that she was near the end of her life and asked everyone to tell mom to her face how much she meant to them rather than telling me at her funeral. She received and read mountains of letters and cards. Lots of relatives, friends and neighbors past and present paid her a visit. What a fabulous response and overwhelming actions of love shown to her. She greatly enjoyed her own memorial. There will be a video reel of mom’s life posted on the internet on her 99th birthday, Nov. 9. 2020.
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