Cecilia Marie Pannell of Selah passed away peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her family on May 30, 2018.
Cecilia was born in Yakima on July 5, 1933, the daughter of Archie and Agnes Mailloux and the youngest of three siblings.
When Cecilia was seventeen she met her one and only love, Bud, at a Nob Hill Grange dance. Bud being from Ahtanum and Cecilia a “city girl,” at first glance one would think they were seemingly opposites, but they were pretty much inseparable from that point forward.
Cecilia graduated from St. Joseph’s Academy in 1951, married Bud in 1953 at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, and for the next 64 years of marriage they enjoyed their lives together with top priorities being her faith and becoming a caring and loving wife, mother to her three sons, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Prior to the birth of the first of her three sons Cecilia was a telephone operator, and after the youngest of her three sons went to college she spent the next 15 years as a teacher’s aide at John Campbell Elementary School in Selah. She loved working with the First Graders and gained a personal sense of satisfaction, especially in the reading room when one of “her” students made significant progress as a result of focused tutoring.
Cecilia placed her family first and so enjoyed the maternal realm and truly made her house a “home” for all family members, friends and guests. Her life centered around various sports events of her three sons, including water skiing, baseball, football, basketball, camping, snow skiing and as you can imagine, “male dominated” events. She also enjoyed gardening, watching the cooking channel, trying new recipes, and loved square dancing including attending the after dance social events.
For a large number of years, she would split family and vacation time between their homes in Selah and Lake Limerick in Shelton. While at Lake Limerick she loved a good Margarita after a day of dragging Bud to many different yard sales in order to find the perfect necessity for their new home. She was also known for her love of animals, especially any stray cat or dog in the neighborhood who knew that she was a “softie,” and a constant source of a good meal, warm shelter, kind words, and a loving touch if allowed by the strays.
While Cecilia loved her three sons, grandson, and great-grandson, she was overjoyed when she “finally had her girls.” Her two granddaughters finally brought back some pink and purple into the household and a few years later another bonus arrived via the birth of her twin great-granddaughters.
Cecilia is survived by her husband Bud, sons Mike and Jeff (Siri), and grandchildren Aniston, Audrina, Christopher, and great-grandchildren Kaiden, Payton and MacKenzie. She was preceded in death by her mother Agnes, her father Archie, stepmother Helen, sister Yvonne and brother Joe, and her middle son Steve who passed away just last August.
The family would like to provide a special thanks to Fr. Don Perea, Priest of the Seattle Archdiocese, for his numerous visits to both Cecilia and her family while she was receiving care at Virginia Mason in Seattle. In addition, the family was so blessed to receive absolutely outstanding and extremely personal medical care led by Dr. David Aboulafia and his team members at Virginia Mason during her nine-year battle with lymphoma. Cecilia held a very special place in her heart for Dr. “A.”
A mass celebrating Cecilia’s life will be held at noon on June 30 at Holy Family Church (Chapel) in Yakima, followed by a luncheon reception. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Cecilia’s memory be made to the Floyd and Delores Jones Cancer Institute at Virginia Mason in Seattle.