Ayleen Anita Frederick Erickson was born on November 24, 1917, on her family’s homestead outside of Ellensburg on the west side of the Kittitas Valley. She passed away on September 20, 2018. The daughter of Jacob Frederick and Anna Lein Frederick, Ayleen was raised on the family farm, attending the Cove School, a two room country school through the eighth grade.
She attended Morgan Junior High School in Ellensburg as a 9th grader the first year that school opened. She graduated from Ellensburg High School in 1934. Ayleen attended Central Washington Normal School, now University, for one year, before transferring to Washington State College, now University, where she graduated with a BS degree in Home Economics in 1938.
It was at Washington State University that she met her future husband, Ed Erickson, a fellow undergraduate. After graduation Ayleen commenced advanced training to become a registered hospital dietician. She interned and trained at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane and in Seattle at Swedish and Harborview Hospitals.
In 2015 she was honored for 75 years of membership in the American Dietetic Association. Ayleen and Ed married on August 14, 1940 in the front room of her family home on the Ellensburg homestead. They were married for nearly 65 years until Ed passed away in 2005.
During their long marriage Ayleen continued to pursue her career as a dietitian working for various hospitals and private clients. For many years she taught a college course on nutrition through WSU Extension. Her first focus, however, was on her family, who enjoyed the bounty that came from her kitchen where her scientific knowledge of food was blended with the practicality she learned in her mother, Anna’s farm home.
Her skills as a homemaker extended beyond food. She was an expert seamstress who made many of her own clothes, shirts for her three boys, Ron, Wayne and Dale, and even sports coats for her husband Ed. As her husband’s career expanded, Ayleen moved her family from Tacoma to Issaquah and then to Ellensburg, her home town.
During a time when Ed returned to graduate school Ayleen worked as a school secretary at Lincoln School in Ellensburg. In 1966, Ed and Ayleen moved to a home on Yarrow Point, where she remained for the balance of her life. Throughout their life together Ed and Ayleen enjoyed boating.
They spent many summers on their boat, Kullan, in the San Juan and Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound. They were Northwest “gunkholers” in the best sense of that term. Ayleen was an avid sports fan, never missing televised Seahawks or Mariners games.
But mostly, as a WSU grad she was a dyed in the wool Cougar fan. She and Ed traveled to watch the Cougars play in bowl games (a rare occurrence) especially, the 1998 Rose Bowl. On game day she wore her Cougar sweatshirt as she watched her team play on television.
Throughout her life she remained socially active. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority which she joined at WSU and in which she remained active over the years. She was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Bellevue, a 61 year member of PEO, (past president of both Chapter DN in Ellensburg and Chapter ES in Bellevue), Overlake Service League, Bridge Club, VASA Oder of America (Skogblomman Chapter), Queen City Yacht Club and her recent favorite, the Yarrow Point Bible Study group.
Ever busy, she knitted 1071 stocking caps for the troops in Afghanistan with the 1072nd unfinished in her knitting bag at the time of her death. She leaves a large group of friends, all younger, with whom she enjoyed rich and rewarding relationships. She is survived by her three sons: Ron (Dia Armenta) of Bainbridge Island, Wayne (Patti) of Ellensburg, and Dale (Debbie), of Omak.
Seven grandchildren: Matt, Anna, Julia, Jessica, Elizabeth, Jake and Ben and three great-grandchildren, Henry, Emily and Austin. Memorials in Ayleen’s memory should be sent to the Washington State University Foundation (foundation. wsu.
edu/). A graveside service will be held in Ellensburg, Washington at the IOOF Cemetery with a memorial service at the First United Methodist Church at 1934 – 108th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA at 2:00PM on Sunday, October 7, 2018.
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