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Christina Bockius
Christina Bockius died Dec. 12, 2008, at
Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland from
injuries sustained in a kiteboarding accident near La Ventana,
Mexico. She was 43 years old.
A celebration of life will be held
Thursday, Dec. 18, at 3:30 p.m. at the Columbia Gorge Hotel.
Christina was born in Sarnen,
Switzerland, March 6, 1965, to Eduardo Gentilini and Heidi
Knappitsch. When she was 1 year old, the family moved to Gruenau,
Austria, an idyllic Alps village where she grew up.
She started kindergarten when she was 3
years old, and began skiing at the same age at the town ski
hill, the Kasberg.
In the winter in Austria, kids ski in
lieu of doing other sports, and ski racing is part of growing
up. Christina was athletic from toddlerhood, and was a perpetual
winner of ski races throughout her youth. As she grew up, she
applied her athletic abilities to biking, swimming and
volleyball.
At age 14, Christina entered
Hauswirschafts Schule, a college of domestic science and home
economics. After graduating, she entered school to become a
dental assistant.
When she was 18, she moved to Wangen,
Germany, where a good friend owned and operated a restaurant.
She worked there for several months while she waited to enter a
flight attendant training program for Lufthansa Airlines.
In 1983 she was hired as a flight
attendant by Lufthansa. She lived and was based out of Munich.
After a few months with the airline, she got a better offer from
Delta Airlines, where she worked for the next 14 years.
In the fall of 1989, Christina took a
trip to New Zealand to visit a friend. While motorcycling around
the North Island, she met an American, Kelly Bockius from Hood
River, at a backpacker’s lodge on the Coromandel Peninsula. The
two fell in love at first sight. Kelly proposed to Christina two
days later and they were married May 11, 1990, in Las Vegas.
The couple bought a house on Belmont
Avenue on Hood River’s Westside, where they’ve lived ever since.
Within weeks of moving to Hood River,
Kelly taught Christina to windsurf. She was a natural on the
water and was soon sailing circles around everyone. Throughout
the 1990s, Christina was a fixture wherever the wind was blowing
— The Hatchery (and later Cheap Beach), Doug’s, The Wall, Rufus.
During winters, Christina rarely missed
a powder day at Mt. Hood Meadows – rarely missed any ski day,
for that matter. She would often brag – in her disarming German
accent, flashing her big, warm grin – of getting first chair.
When Christina started kiteboarding, she
all but gave up windsurfing and devoted her time to the sport
she loved the most. She was a fixture at the Spit, always ready
to help anyone launch or land their kite. Often on big days,
there would be several guys and Christina launching big air near
the White Salmon bridge.
Christina, a self-proclaimed “fun hog,”
was fond of saying things like, “We’re not here for a long time,
we’re here for a good time,” and “Life’s too short to be in a
bad mood.”
During the spring and summer when she
wasn’t on the river, Christina created and maintained extensive
gardens at her house. She had multiple vegetable gardens, a huge
strawberry bed and a wide array of flowers. She loved being a
steward of the earth, and loved sharing her bounty – as well as
her extensive gardening knowledge – with family and friends.
The only thing that gave Christina more
passion than her sports was her two daughters. Sascha was born
in 1998, and Nina in 2001. She quit her flight attendant job
when Sascha was born in order to be a full-time mom, a job she
relished.
She was a devoted mother in every way.
She instilled in her girls her love for the earth and the
outdoors, for friends and family, for travel. She took the girls
to Austria to visit her family each year from the time they were
infants. For Christina, no trip was too arduous, even with small
children; they traveled to Europe, the Caribbean, Maui, Mexico,
up and down the West Coast, to New England and on ski trips to
Montana, Wyoming and elsewhere.
Christina spoke German, English, French,
Italian and some Spanish. She seemed to make friends wherever
she went – many of whom would end up coming to visit Christina
and the family in Hood River.
Christina was deeply involved in the
girls’ schools, from the time they started preschool at Bright
Beginnings and later at Westside Elementary. She volunteered in
the classroom, helped spearhead fund-raisers and was an advocate
for arts in the schools.
Christina began making jewelry a few
years ago and devoted part of her considerable and seemingly
boundless energy to this new-found passion. She gave some of it
away, but was recently making pieces to sell. She also recently
began teaching jewelry-making classes in town.
Christina was dearly loved by so many in
the Hood River community, as well as by so many people from
around the world. Her door was always open to friends and
strangers alike, from near and far. She took in stray cats,
people — anyone in need of a meal, a laugh, a hug, a place to
stay, a shot of Schnapps. Her infectious enthusiasm and unending
stoke for life was not reserved for a few; it was a gift she
gave to everyone she came in contact with.
Christina will be sorely missed, and
remembered always, by the kingdom of people fortunate enough to
have known her.
She is survived by her husband, Kelly
Bockius, and daughters Sascha and Nina Bockius, of Hood
River; mother Heidi Knappitsch of Gruenau, Austria; grandmother
Julia Knappitsch of Gruenau, Austria; brothers Andreas and
Martin of Gruenau, Austria; brother-in-law Sam Bockius and wife
Tammy of Haiku, Hawaii; brother-in-law Eric Hixson and wife
Terri of Hood River; brother-in-law Peter Hixson and wife Janet
of Hood River; sister-in-law Heidi Hixson of Bend; six nieces
and one nephew.
Memorial contributions can be made to
the Columbia Center for the Arts, for the Christina Bockius Fund
for children’s art education, P.O. Box 1543, Hood River, OR
97031. Contributions also can be made to Columbia River Bank to
a fund established for a bench to be dedicated to Christina at
Hood River Waterfront Park.
Audrey Tennant
Audrey Deming Brock Tennant, a longtime
Hood River, Ore., resident, died Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, at the
Oregon Veterans Home in The Dalles, Ore. She was 90 years of
age.
Graveside services will be held Friday,
Dec. 19, at 11 a.m. at Pine Grove Butte Cemetery.
Audrey was born May 10, 1918, in Washta,
Iowa, to Lawrence and Floy Williams. She moved with her family
to Sioux City, Iowa, at age 11 where she was raised and
educated.
In 1942 she met Walter Brock at a USO
Dance. They married March 1, 1946, in Sioux City, Iowa, and
moved to Hood River. Walter Brock died in 1969. On June 9, 1973,
she and Oral Tennant were married in White Salmon, Wash. He died
in 2002.
Audrey worked as a sorter for Stadelman
Fruit for 17 years. She was a charter member of the Fraternal
Order of Eagles Auxiliary and a member of the Congregational
Church of Christ in Naselle, Wash.
Audrey was preceded in death by her
parents; first husband, Walter Brock; second husband, Oral
Tennant; son, Jim Brock; brothers Walter and Ralph Deming;
great-granddaughter, Angela Brock; and in-laws John and Nellie
Brock.
She is survived by her daughters, Linda
Dunn, of Hood River, Ore., and Judith Holliday, of Salem, Ore.;
sisters Altha Florin, of Roanoke, Va., and Joanne Mishler, of
Sioux City, Iowa; stepsons Wayne, Gary and Miles Tennant; and
stepdaughters Gloria Tennant, Mary Bardorf, Connie George and
Beth Walton. Eight grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and
many step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren also
survive.
Memorial contributions may be made to
the USO in care of Anderson’s Tribute Center (Funerals,
Receptions, Cremations), 1401 Belmont Ave., Hood River, OR
97031; (541) 386-1000. Please visit
www.andersonstributecenter.com to view and print the obituary
and sign the guest book for family.
Eugene Routson
Our husband, father, and grandfather,
Eugene “Bud” Allin Routson, passed away on Dec. 10, 2008, at
Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital in Hood River, Ore.
Services will be held on Saturday, Dec.
20, at 2 p.m. at Parkdale Community Church.
Bud was born on Oct. 3, 1924, to Harry
and Alyuna Routson in Parkdale. His place of birth was at the
present home of Mike McCarthy, whose home is located less than a
quarter-mile from where Bud was raised along with his siblings,
Virginia, Ellen, Jerry and late-comer Rick.
Bud attended Parkdale schools until the
onset of World War II. In 1942, at the end of his junior year,
he left school, along with many of his classmates, and joined
the military service.
Serving in the Navy, he was a gunner’s
mate on the destroyer USS Capps, which saw duty in the Atlantic
as well as multiple campaigns in the Pacific. USS Capps was
responsible for guarding harbors and ports, escorting troop
ships and protecting aircraft carriers.
They were involved in the first raids of
the German shipping at Norway along with battles at the
Marianas, Manila and Iwo Jima. They received seven battle stars
for World War II service.
It was on the USS Capps that Dad met his
lifelong friend and crewmate, Bill Bigger, of Bandon, Ore.
Following World War II, Bud returned to Parkdale, where he
married Marjorie Wilson on Dec. 15, 1946, at the Parkdale
Community Church.
In 1948, Bud and Margie purchased the
family farm from Bud’s parents. There Bud and Margie had three
children, Marsa, Marvin, and Martha. Bud drove school bus, baled
hay and later worked at the Dee hardboard plant for just short
of 25 years while clearing land and planting fruit trees on the
family farm. Bud said that he never felt closer to God than when
he was farming because he felt it was God’s country.
Bud loved sports. He enjoyed playing
basketball, baseball and community fast-pitch softball. He got a
lot of pleasure out of watching the football games of his
brother, Rick, and son, Marvin, as well as the many sporting
events of his grandchildren. He loved watching college and NFL
football on Sunday afternoons with his family.
Bud is survived by his wife of 62 years,
Margie Routson; sister, Ellen Routson; brother, Rick Routson and
sister-in-law, Patty; daughter, Marsa Routson; son, Marvin and
daughter-in-law, Lee Ann; daughter, Martha Goe and son-in-law,
Tom; grandchildren Thad Routson and his wife, Becky; Megan
Marble and her husband, Gaven; Trista Beam and her husband,
Ryan; Dustin Goe and his wife, Tara; Seth Routson and his wife,
Molly; and Don Goe, fellow sailor; as well as seven
great-grandchildren: Taylor, Isaac, Sarah, Abigail, Trevan,
Rylyn and Ezekiel.
Bud was preceded in death by his parents
and sister, Virginia Routson, and brother, Jerry Routson.
Memorial contributions may be made to
the Parkdale Community Church or the Parkdale Fire Department in
care of Anderson’s Tribute Center (Funerals, Receptions,
Cremations), 1401 Belmont Ave., Hood River, OR 97031; (541)
386-1000. Please visit www.andersonstributecenter.com to view
and print the obituary and sign the guest book for family.
Don Duvall
Don Duvall, 88, a lifetime resident of
Wasco County, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008, at the
Oregon Veterans Home in The Dalles, Ore.
The son of Roy Locke and Gertrude
(Proctor) Duvall, Roy Donald Duvall was born on Sept. 18, 1920,
in Mosier, Ore. He is a graduate of Mosier High School, class of
1938.
He married Flora Oliver on Feb. 10,
1942, in Bremerton, Wash. A World War II veteran, he served as
an aerographer in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1945. The
Dalles then became his home, where his last career was as a New
York Life Insurance agent for 30 years.
Memberships included: American Legion
for 62 years, Masonic Lodge, First Christian Church,
Toastmasters and Fort Dalles Riders Association, and he was a
driver for Meals on Wheels for 30 years.
He enjoyed camping, fishing, hunting,
and his daughters’ horses; but most of all, he enjoyed watching
his three grandsons participate in sports. Later in life he
looked forward to lunch at the Senior Center.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years,
Flora Duvall, of The Dalles; his two daughters and their
families: Donna Dalton, her husband Cliff, of Dallas, Ore.,
grandson, Jason Dalton, and his wife, Alyssa, toddler, Charlie,
and new baby, Finley, all of Portland, Ore.; and Kathy Gonser
and her husband, Howard, of The Dalles; grandsons Reg Gonser, of
St. Louis, Mo., and Tye Gonser, of Santa Monica, Calif.; his
sister, Louise Leininger; special niece, Jan Leininger, of
Mosier; niece, Linda, and nephew, Bill; his brother-in-law, Chet
Oliver, of The Dalles; and his nephews, John, Kent and Don.
On Friday, assisted by Asa Jenson, Don’s
family put him to rest at the Odd Fellows Mausoleum. The
community is invited to honor and remember Don Duvall on Monday,
Dec. 22, at 2 p.m. at Spencer, Libby and Powell Funeral Home,
1100 Kelly Ave., The Dalles.
Memorials may be made to: the Oregon
Veterans Home, Hospice of The Gorge or Meals on Wheels.
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