Obituary of Nona Summerour

NA Nona Ellsworth Summerour Nona died Saturday, May 14, 2011 in Olympia, Washington after a lengthy illness. She was born to Clifford Ephram Ellsworth and Mildred Dashiell Ellsworth in Yakima, Washington on August 7, 1933. Nona grew up in the Yakima area and was a gifted athlete, excelling in snow skiing, skating, and basketball. As a young girl she loved spending time hiking and exploring the eastern slope of Mt. Rainier. She graduated from Naches High School and subsequently pursued her nursing degree at Whitworth College. Nona graduated from Whitworth and the Deaconess School of Nursing in 1954. While attending Deaconess, she met her future husband, Wm. Franklin Summerour at Central United Methodist Church in Spokane. They married in 1955 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. While Franklin pursued his degree in theology at Emory University, Nona taught nursing at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta to some of the first black students to receive RN degrees in the segregated South. Upon their return to the Pacific Northwest, Franklin and Nona served United Methodist churches in Bonners Ferry, Spokane, Vancouver and Edmonds as well as serving in administrative positions in Walla Walla, Spokane, and Seattle. Together for nearly forty years, Nona and Franklin dedicated themselves to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and were widely recognized for their tireless commitment to pastoral care and work in the areas of civil rights and medical and educational mission work in Africa. In addition to teaching nursing at several colleges, Nona worked as a registered nurse in a number of hospitals and skilled nursing facilities before going to work for the state of Washington as a quality assurance nurse. She retired from a nursing home survey position with the state’s Aging and Adult Services. Nona was a compassionate and caring nurse and many benefited from her loving and diligent care. Nona was active in PEO, Kairos prison ministry, and Masonic organizations. She pursued her love of the outdoors and continued hiking, skiing, camping, and gardening late into her life. She was a gracious woman, a generous friend to all, and a loving wife and mother. Nona was preceded in death by her husband Franklin, in 1995, and her parents. She is survived by her three children and their spouses, Theresa (Dennis), twins John (Melanie) and Kari (Mike) and her grandchildren Marvin, Ben and Emma. Also surviving is grandson Marvin’s father, Edward Rhone (Paysha) her sister, Peggy Stach (Greg), a number of Franklin’s brothers and sisters and their spouses, and many members of her extended family in the Spokane area. A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at the Cedonia Community Church with burial to follow in the Cedonia Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made in Nona’s memory to the Cedonia Community Church, 4562 Highway 25 S, Hunters, WA 99137; or to UMCOR – Advance # 982168 for the Ganta, Liberia Hospital Revitalization in West Africa, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Funeral Alternatives of Washington in Olympia at (360) 491-2222.