Obituary of Cherie Ann Nunnelee

Cherie Ann (Hansen) Nunnelee Sept. 24, 1951 - June 29, 2005 Cherie A. Nunnelee, 53, died suddenly at the Centralia hospital on June29th from a heart attack. She was preceded in death by her father Richard H. Hansen Survived by her husband Richard and son Rhys of Yelm, WA; mother Dolores Hansen of Lincoln City, OR; sister Terri Jean Luis (Ed) Mt. Shasta City, CA; brother Gary R. Hansen, Beaverton, OR; sister Gerri Lyn Benski (Dan) Oregon City, OR; and brother Lary Johan Hansen (Bonnie) Forest Grove, OR; three nieces and three nephews and a great niece. Cherie was born in Cutbank, MT. To Richard and Dolores Hansen and lived the life of a traveling Air Force brat. In eighteen years Cherie had lived in Cutbank and Great Falls, MT; Parkland, WA; San Bernardino, CA; an Air Force facility in France and Germany; Homestead, FL; Rialto, CA. and Riverside, CA. After high school in Rialto, CA; Cherie continued working at the B&B drive thru restaurant with her dad until finding a position at the Riverside Community Hospital doing third party billing. Also during this time Cherie was talked into joining the Coast Guard by a good friend and roommate. So for the next two years Cherie saluted, said “yes sir, no sir” and moved out smartly. Following her parents once again Cherie move to San Jose, CA. and found work in Los Gatos at the Los Gatos Hospital again doing third party billing. Cherie found a home at Los Gatos making many friends during the twelve years she was there. Mother’s Day 1991 found Cherie getting involved with the military again by marrying Petty Officer First Class Richard A. Nunnelee. A career navy man, Richard had dated Cherie off and on for over seventeen years before falling for her completely. Moving to northern Virginia Cherie worked for a couple of different hospitals but decided she needed a change, enter Rhys Alton Nunnelee on Aug. 31, 1995. Motherhood was by far Cherie’s favorite job, no not the cooking and cleaning part but bringing the world and it’s many wonders to her son. Taking road trips to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house, the zoo, any museum, parks, by using everyday situations as a learning tool, Cherie taught morals and values by direct example or by just answering questions with a question to shape her young son’s mind. Deciding her best work schedule was to be busy when Rhys was in school and at home when he was out of school, Cherie got involved by volunteering. Cherie worked as a cafeteria worker in first grade to be close to Rhys while volunteering in his class. Second grade at Ocean Lake elementary in Lincoln City, OR again found her volunteering, chaperoning and working closely with and raising money for the P.T.O. Moving to Yelm in 2003, Cherie again got off to a strong volunteer year at Fort Stevens Elementary and managed to become a substitute cafeteria worker for the Yelm school district. In 2004 Cherie was hired to be a third and fourth grade English and math tutor at Ft. Stevens. This was the job that Cherie was really looking for, the interaction with students of this age group was the most enjoyably thing she had ever had to do as work, and talked about it continually. Getting an education was paramount to Cherie and doing whatever she could was her joy. Working with the “Yelm Community Education Advisory Council” was always a special job to her. At the beginning of each school year the Youth Clothing Connection, held at Yelm’s alternative high school, would find Cherie and Rhys stuffing donated backpacks with school supplies, giving kids in need a good start to the school year. In the fall Cherie could be found working for the Advisory Council’s secret Santa program picking up donated items from area merchants and wrapping the gifts for Christmas. This was Cherie’s favorite work and in lieu of flowers please send a tax deductible donation to the “Yelm Community Education Advisory Council” P.O. Box 2148, Yelm, WA. 98597 Richard Nunnelee rnunn50@earthlink.net Remember..."The only thing that remains constant is change."