The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., April 1, 1999, page 5
GENEVIEVE DORSEY CONLEE
Genevieve Jessica Conlee, 80 of Goldendale, died March
15, 1999. She was born June 10, 1918 in Pasco, where her father worked for
the Northern Pacific Railroad. Genevieve finished all her schooling in Pasco.
The family had a small acreage with a flock of about 30 sheep. When she was
not in school, Genevieve would herd the sheep from horseback. During this
time, she discovered that she could write poetry. For her it became an effective
way to express herself.
Following high school in 1936, she worked for a doctor's
family as a live-in housekeeper and baby-sitter. Genevieve graduated from
Cheney Normal School (later called Eastern Washington College) in 1940, and
her first teaching job was first through fifth grades (11 students) near
Colfax. She later took a job teaching in a country school near Pomeroy. It
had seven grades and 13 students. It was here that Genevieve met and married
Victor Hugg in June 1942. The family moved to the Spring Creek area, near
Goldendale, in October 1949.
In 1958, Genevieve was hired by the Goldendale Schools,
and taught fifth grade for two years. She became aware of a great need to
help the children of parents who were working on The Dalles Dam. She was
asked to set up a special reading program, and for 18 years, until 1979,
when she retired, she taught special reading in the primary and middle schools.
Genevieve married Tom Conlee in 1963.
In her retirement, she has tutored students and adults
in her home; tutored special education students in the Primary and Middle
Schools as a volunteer; visited the nursing home each Sunday for the past
20 years to read to the "old people." In her spare time, she made 87 quilts,
which were given to needy families, homeless, new immigrants, friends and
each family member.
Survivors include one daughter, Judy Hilman of Gresham,
Ore.; one son, Dick Hugg of Portland, Ore.; five grandchildren; eight great
grandchildren; one sister, Eloise Knapp of Wenatchee; and many neighbors
and friends.
Memorial services will be held on Saturday, April 10
at 1 p.m. in the Chapel of Erdman Funeral Home with Pastor Skip Mitchell
officiating. Private interment will be in Mt. View Cemetery. Memorial
contributions may be made to New Hope Farms or a charity of the donor's choice.
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