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Ione Evelyn Layman
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Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home
YAKIMA - Ione Evelyn Spence Layman, 89 of Yakima, passed away Saturday, June 27, 2009 at Summitview Health Care Center. Ione was born on November 18, 1919 in Windom, Minnesota to Robert W. and Ethel (Vanderkar) Jones. Her family left Minnesota when she was five years old and traveled to Washington State where her father had relatives living in Wenatchee. Her father and mother found work in the logging camps near Blewett Pass. Her mother was camp cook and her father tended horses. After spending several years there, they moved to Satus Pass where she attended school in Goldendale. It was there she met a young boy by the name of Lee Layman who would eventually become her husband. Her family left Goldendale and worked in Weippe, Idaho. It was there she met her first husband James C. Spence. They were married on December 20 1935. After two years there, they moved to Orofino, WA, where her first child Irene was born. James and Ione then moved to Chewelah, WA where James had been born. There they had four more children, Donald, Robert, James L. and Jane. Her husband James Spence died on Oct. 12, 1950 as a result of an accident while working in an open pit mining operation. Ione moved with her five children to the Spokane area in 1951 where Lee Layman came back into her life. They were married on Jan. 17, 1954 in Spokane. In June of 1958 they moved to Naches. Ione worked as a homemaker and had many hobbies. She liked to travel and during the next twenty-five years she and Lee traveled thru out Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana as well as taking trips to Canada and Mexico. She traveled to Hawaii with her daughter Jane and Lee's daughter Dolores. Ione was a collector of various things, most notably were Avon products and Dolls. She belonged to an Avon club for years and was a longtime member of the Friendship Doll Club of Yakima. Ione and Lee were regulars at the Old Auction House on north First Street and also attended auctions in the lower valley. She loved going to yard sales and in later life visiting the Goodwill Stores. While in the Doll Club, she had a booth at the Salvation Army Doll show each spring. After Lee's death on May 30, 1995, she moved to Yakima in 1997 to live with her son Donald and wife Marilyn. She spent her days listening to music. She liked Country Western, Blue Grass and Pop, along with quilting by hand. She saved every little scrap of material for quilting. It was a sure bet that if the television was on in her house, it was tuned to the RFD channel. She would sit and watch it for hours. Ione loved having company while living at Don and Marilyn's home and very few people left her without taking something she would find to give them. Ione was a very good cook. One of her favorites for breakfast was tuna fish gravy over homemade biscuits. Her cinnamon rolls were a piece of art and she would always bake at least two big pans full.
Survivors include three sons: Donald (Marilyn) Spence and Rob (Linda) Spence both of Yakima and James (Debbie Wilson) Spence of Orofino, ID. A daughter: Jane (James) Dewey of Tacoma. Step-sons: Sam Layman of Lake Havasu, AZ. and Lloyd Layman of Portland, OR. Step-daughter: Dolores McReynolds of Spokane. Two half-sisters: Ethel (Tom) Pollilo of Kennewick and Mary Ann Chapman of Weippe, Idaho. A half-brother: Alexander Spence of Weippe, Idaho. Numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and a special cat named Studley. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands James Spence and Lee Layman, daughter Irene Spence, grandson Steve Spence and great grandson Jason Vanderhowen, granddaughters Laurie Ann Spence and Nicole Wilson Spence as well as three sisters and two brothers.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 2:00 p.m. at Langevin Mussetter Funeral Home. Graveside services will be Thursday, July 2, 2009, 1:00 p.m. at Spokane Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be held Tuesday, June 30, 2009 from noon until 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 9:00 a.m. until the service. Memorials may be made to the Diabetes Foundation c/o Langevin Mussetter Funeral Home.
Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.
