Elaine Madison

Elaine was a precious, loving, kind heart who greeted everyone with a warm smile.

She was an amazing Mother who sacrificed much to ensure her daughters had a Catholic school education and all of the other activities they desired; dance, piano, sports, scouts…you name it! Not only did she work full time, but she volunteered her time in the school when it was necessary to make ends meet.

She instilled a love of the outdoors and may have thrown a little work ethic in there. We often gardened together on sunny days. She enjoyed the fruits of hard labor! We also spent weekends camping as a family, where we did MORE hard work!

Elaine was an amazing, vivacious, beautiful, fun-loving lady who enjoyed her work life too! Her Boeing buddies especially appreciated her for always being the one to arrive at o’dark thirty to start brewing coffee and they also referred to her as the ‘Candy Lady.’ She tell us it was because she brought candy (lol)! We used to laugh how she would sometimes leave stuff in the refrigerator (really good stuff) to bring to work the next day with a nice note that said, ‘HANDS OFF!’ She was always a clear communicator!

In her early 30’s, Elaine was diagnosed with MS. The first 8-10 years really didn’t slow her down too much. She continued to work and live a pretty full life. In December of 2001, she was laid off from Boeing. As part of the worker re-training program, she started going to Edmonds Community College but after a couple quarters in school, her legs began to show signs of not cooperating, so she retired on disability.

Over the course of the next few years, she progressed from a cane to needing the assistance of a walker, then shortly thereafter, needing the security of a wheelchair full time. Though she was no longer working outside of the home, but the BLESSING to our family was that she was home to spend time with her family!

For the 13 years before she passed, Elaine had been totally in a wheelchair but had fought hard to stay in her home. She had accessibility accommodations at home that enabled her to have a normal life and was always able to transfer herself from her chair, etc. I think we all realize now that Elaine’s strongest muscles were her loving heart and her arms.

Elaine lived with MS for over 30 years. She suffered an acute stroke on (or about) December 30, 2017 and it further declined her neurological state. On January 1st, after several days of having increased physical difficulty, she requested to go to the emergency room. On January 3rd, she was admitted to Mountain View Rehabilitation in Marysville, WA. (close to home) to regain her strength. While she was there, she became infected with the flu virus and within 5 days, she was admitted back to the hospital and passed away a week later due to complications from the flu and pneumonia.

It came as a complete shock to family. We had been making accommodations to move her to a beautiful assisted living facility in Mukilteo; a few miles from home. We never for a moment thought these were our last days with her and as for us (her daughters and several grandchildren), we stayed in the hospital for nearly 72 hours just passing time together, being there for Mom and each other, and laughing and sharing stories…just waiting and expecting things to get better. Unfortunately for us, God had other plans to take her to her heavenly home.