Carroll Wauneta Stokes

Carroll Wauneta Stokes April 20, 1919 ~ March 16, 2013 Carroll Wauneta Stokes, age 93, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 16, 2013, at Highline Care Center in East Wenatchee, WA, where she had lived for almost five years. She was surrounded by her loving family and close family friends. She was a resident of Cashmere, WA for 62 years. Carroll was born in Thief River Falls, MN on April 20, 1919, daughter of Chauncey Walter McCune and Cordelia Barbara McCune (Rhode). She made many moves as a young girl with her parents. After a flood badly damaged the family farm in Minnesota, they moved to Olathe, KS, where her father was involved in cattle ranching. When Carroll was six years old, the family moved to Lees Summit, MO, where she started first grade in an old country schoolhouse. When she was 12 years old, the family decided to head West, first to Emmett, ID, where the family farmed raspberries for a few years, before moving to Nespelem, WA. Carroll graduated from Nespelem High School in 1937. There were only six other students in her graduating class. She attended business school in Seattle. While in the Seattle area, she met and married Don McCune, and they had two children, Alan and Julie. During World War II, she worked for the Port of Embarkation in Seattle, seeing soldiers off to the front lines in the Pacific. In 1946, she and her two children moved to Cashmere to live with her parents. She was happy to find a job at Cashmere Valley Bank. It was in her beloved Cashmere that she met, fell in love with and married her dear husband, John Stokes, on July 16, 1950. Their son, Brian, was born of this marriage in 1960, and joyously welcomed by John, Carroll, Alan and Julie. After her years at Cashmere Valley Bank, she held jobs with several local companies, including Cashmere Convalescent Center and Tree Top in the 1970's, along with Valley Evaporating and Cascoa Growers in the 1980's. She retired from Cascoa Growers in 1984. Carroll most treasured her jobs as wife, mother and homemaker. She also loved to be outside, working around her Cashmere home, tending to her rose bushes and planting a garden every year, where a variety of wonderful vegetables and berries were harvested. Another lifelong passion was with animals, especially her cats and dogs. Over the years, many dozens of stray cats and a few stray dogs found their way to Carroll's doorstep. Not a single one was ever turned away. She would take them in and try to find homes for them if she could, but if not, would keep and love them for her own. Several bird feeders also adorned her property and she was always delighted to investigate and learn about the variety of birds frequenting her feeders. Carroll was a wonderful wife, mother and friend, and known for a very compassionate, gentle and generous heart. She lived her life with great happiness, hope, faith and contentment, facing every challenge or hardship with grace and serenity. We can only hope to live our lives in the same way. She will be missed terribly, but will live forever in our hearts and in our memories. Carroll is survived by her daughter, Julie McCunn (Bill) of East Wenatchee, WA; her son, Brian Stokes (Nour) of Cashmere, WA; her niece, Dorothy Dunn of Wapato, WA; her two nieces and nephew, Ardythe Rice, Pat Wagenecht and Bob James (Ruby), all of Morrison, IL. Carroll is also survived by eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. Carroll was preceded in death by her husband, John; her son, Alan; her parents; her brother, Leo McCune and sister-in-law, Ruby of Cashmere; and her sister, Hazel James and her brother-in-law, Art of Morrison, IL. The family wishes to thank the staff at Highline Care Center, Hospice, Chaplain Keith Kirkpatrick, and Rick Phillips of Telford's Chapel of the Valley, for all the kind and gentle care they provided for both mother and our family. We are forever grateful. A Celebration of Carroll's Life will be held on Friday, April 5, 2013, at 10:30 a.m. at Telford's Chapel of the Valley in East Wenatchee, WA, with Graveside Services following at Cashmere Cemetery in Cashmere, WA. Donations may be made to the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society Shelter if you wish. Arrangements by Telford's Chapel of the Valley.

Carroll Wauneta Stokes

April 20, 1919 - March 16, 2013