Glenna Riedlinger (Knodel) Riedlinger

Glenna Marie (Knodel) Riedlinger
A very sweet wife, mama and grandma passed away peacefully on July 13, 2016 in the home of her son and his wife, Jeff and Colleen Riedlinger in Entiat, Washington. She was surrounded by family who watched over her and loved on her as she slipped away from complications of a broken back. She had just celebrated her 89th birthday on July 4. Her husband, Leo Vernon Riedlinger preceded her in death 3 years ago on July 11, 2013. They had been married 64 years!
Glenna was born in Beaver, Washington on July 4, 1927 to German immigrants from Bessarabia (now Moldavia). Her mother was Magdalena (Elka) Knodel and her father was Emil Knodel. Glenna had one sister, Christine (Knodel) (Palmer) Maks, 18 years older than her who was also born in Bessarabia. Glenna was a "wild child" and would entertain her own children with stories of her childhood naughtiness.
Glenna's folks were thrilled to be Americans. Their life in Bessarabia had been extremely hard. In 1913 the Russian army was recruiting Germans so her parents escaped through the "underground" being led out by a 14 year old Jewish boy and entered through Ellis Island. Once in America, Glenna's mom didn't want her to speak German. She was always telling her, "You are in America. You speak American."
When Glenna was 6, her dad died at age 46. Now life became even "harder" for her and her mom. Their house was foreclosed on and through sheer grit and determination her mom found ways to provide for them. She did housework for others. One customer was Father Bernard, a Catholic priest. He became a family friend and on at least 2 occasions would find Glenna hiding in the woods after running away from her first grade class.
Magdalena wanted to marry again and would reply to ads from German men seeking a wife. When Glenna was in fifth grade she came home and met her new dad, Fred Horst. He said he married Magdalena while she was at school. They started packing up his 1939 Buick and within days were on the road to Chicago, Illinois. Mom was forced to leave her precious pet cat "Blue" behind and given just inches of space to sit in as they drove to Chicago. Fred soon started telling them of things he didn't approve of: movies, dancing, the color "red", and hamburger. He called these things "the devil's work". Fred belonged to a very strange Christian church. This caused mom to very skeptical of anything "religious".
Glenna was a top student and chosen to be the speaker for her 8th grade graduation. She remembers that her mom couldn't afford to buy her a new dress so she wore one she had with a large floral print. All the other girls had a solid color dress. Glenna hated wearing something so different from the others but she had no choice. Her mother didn't come to this graduation or her high school graduation. Glenna had no idea why she didn't come.
Her step-dad started charging her room and board at age 16. This was during WWII and with so many men off at war, jobs were plentiful in Chicago. Glenna had a variety of jobs including babysitting, house cleaning, restaurant work, assembly work at the Elgin Watch Factory and Zenith Radio. By far her favorite job was at the Mars Bar Factory. She worked there 40 hours a week her junior and senior year of high school earning $65 a week plus bonuses. This was very good pay! (This was more than Dad earned at Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company five years later. He started at $36.50 week.) Glenna was able to balance her school books and box candy bars at the same time. She earned her best grades those last two years of high school.
Glenna graduated from Steinmetz High School in 1946. It was the smallest high school in Chicago with 5,000 students enrolled. Neither her mom nor step-dad attended her graduation.
Glenna had saved enough money for nursing school at the Mars Bar Factory so after she graduated she was given a letter of recommendation from a Catholic priest. She bought a one way train ticket and traveled to Seattle College and entered the nursing program at Providence Hospital. The nursing program was difficult. She didn't care for the course work but did enjoy the patient care which began immediately.
She met Leo roller skating during her senior year. Glenna knew how to roller skate, Leo didn't. He spent his time changing skates. It wasn't long before they were engaged. They were married March of her senior year. Leo was a Protestant and Glenna had been baptized as a Catholic (but wasn't a practicing Catholic) and was attending a Catholic nursing program. Glenna would have to go before a board because she had married a non-Catholic to continue with her nurses' program. She thought this was highly discriminatory and unfair and refused. She quit school with only 5 months of the 36 month program left. Consequently, she worked her entire career as an LPN rather than an RN.
They secretly got married in Sedro Wooley, Washington where Glenna was doing her psychiatric nurses' training. They told neither her parents or his parents. She thought her secret would be safe and only told one psyche patient. That evening as they left the minister's house after having tied the knot the street was lined with nursing students. That was a nice surprise for them! So much for keeping her secret safe! They drove to Leo's parents' house and spent their honeymoon night on a hide-a-bed couch in the front room.
Leo found employment with Pacific NW Bell Telephone Company and they were soon living in low-cost housing in Seattle. They had two daughters while living there: Vivian Ann (Riedlinger) Conley was born in 1949 and Pamela Marie (Riedlinger) Shoemaker was born in 1951. During this time Glenna was working several nights a week at a nursing home. Later she worked as an LPN at Ballard General Hospital.
When Pam was a toddler they borrowed $550 from Leo's mom for a down payment on a new two-bedroom 776 square foot concrete block house in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. Within a few years Leo had a nice addition built that included a beautiful rock fireplace. Leo did much of the finish work himself. Then Jeffrey Leo Riedlinger was born in 1957. Soon after that they all moved to a new house in Edmonds, Washington. This is where all 3 kids were raised, all graduating from Meadowdale High School in Edmonds.
Glenna worked as an LPN and then as a unit secretary at Stevens Memorial Hospital until she retired. She was very well-liked and affectionately called "Riedy" since "Riedlinger" was such a tongue-twister.
Glenna was an amazing woman! She was a working mom when most moms were stay-at-home moms. Her kids don't remember her complaining about all her responsibilities. They were always very proud of her. She kept a nice, neat house; her family ate together every night; and she did all the laundry and grocery shopping. The kids all had chores to do on Saturday and they usually managed to goof around enough to stretch it out so it would take much longer than it should have.
The family got a tent trailer in 1963 and started camping. They spent many family vacations at Alta Lake in sunny eastern Washington. They also bought a camping lot near Granite Falls. Dad got two small Honda motorcycles for the kids to run around on. They all loved spending time at the camping lot. Their cousins would meet them there and they'd also bring friends along.
Once the kids graduated high school they were soon out of the house. Vivian married, Pam attended college at Central Washington State College to earn a teaching degree, and Jeff joined the Navy. They had all been taught the importance of hard work and were each anxious to be independent.
Glenna continued to work until retirement age. Once she retired she and Leo traveled to Yuma, Arizona every winter for 20 years. They enjoyed many relaxing years together driving their RV down each fall and staying through spring.
During their time at home they spent time visiting kids and spending time with their five grandkids. Those years really zoomed by!
They moved to Sutherlin, Oregon in 1998 and had a new home built. Their daughter, Pam, really enjoyed having mom and dad close by. They especially enjoyed sharing holidays together. Pam was also available to help mom and dad with health challenges as they entered their twilight years.
Leo had a big heart and was a good man but he was difficult to get along with. He was critical and expected everyone to do things as nicely as he did things and he wasn't afraid to tell you. He hurt a lot of feelings through the years. He would lose his temper easily and discipline his children when he was out of control. This caused a lot of friction and unhappy times for his family.
The kids thought mom was a saint for staying with him. Leo started to slow down as his body began to wear out from so many years of hard work and diabetes. Finally, in his 70's his personality softened and he became a very sweet old man. This change was wonderful! Glenna was there for him and was devoted to helping him and doing everything for him until he passed away at age 86.
Leo passed away at 6 am in the morning. At 5 pm that day Glenna fell going up two steps at her son's house and broke her hip. She was taken by ambulance back to the same hospital her husband had just passed away in. What a day! Consequently, she wasn't able to travel to Roseburg to see her husband of 64 years buried. Glenna stayed at her son's house while recovering from a partial hip replacement and actually breezed through recovery and was good to go after 6 weeks.
In a few months she moved back to Blossom Valley Assisted Living where she and Leo had lived prior to his passing. Mom was happy but continued to be tormented with a skin condition that had been making her miserable for about 8 years. It caused her uncontrollable itching which at times made her crazy. She could not control her scratching and would cause herself to be covered in sores, everywhere except her face. She tried every lotion ever sold and would cover herself in band-aids. She would tell anybody who would listen about this condition. The only relief she got was from light treatments. Finally, one doctor prescribed a low dose of prendizone which gave her the most relief. Then her dermatologist diagnosed it at Lichen Chronicus Simplex. Bingo! Mom now knew what it was and it was a real skin condition and not all in her head. It is basically an anxiety condition which is what we all suspected all along.
Even more recently mom was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. This condition along with some memory loss and confusion was making each day more and more challenging for mom. All of this along with her stage IV kidney failure which she had had for many years were all taking a toll on our sweet mom.
When she fell and hurt a knee a few weeks prior to her death she also fractured her back. When she went to the hospital this last time she was besieged with over-whelming dementia. She never knew she was at the hospital. She was in a state of constant confusion. We all knew that her earth life was quickly coming to an end. Bless her sweet, adorable self, she hung on through her 89th birthday on July 4, 2016 and then passed away under hospice care at the home of her son, Jeff, and his wife, Colleen surrounded by family on July 13, 2016.