Reta Kammerzell

  Reta Maxine Kammerzell, of Blaine, passed away on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, after being hospitalized with pneumonia. She was born on Oct. 25, 1935. She was 82 years old.
  Maxine was a happy, caring woman loved by everyone she met. She always had kind words to say about everyone and never spoke ill toward others. She wanted her friends and family to get along with each other and have peace and harmony. During her final days, despite being sick, she didn’t complain and said she was comfortable and not in pain. She passed peacefully surrounded by family.
  She was a loving wife and mother who worked hard to provide for her family. She was a longtime resident of Ferndale and worked for many years at Petrolane Gas. Retiring from there, she later worked for Propane Gas Ind. She loved to go fishing, crabbing and clam digging with her family, and she shared with her husband John a love for gardening, canning food, cooking, and baking apple pies together. She enjoyed arts and crafts, sewing and making quilts for all her grandkids. She and her husband John took numerous adventures and camping trips with their four children around the Pacific Northwest to Lummi Island, San Juan Island, Birch Bay and to Oregon and Canada. She and John later traveled as much as possible to places like Alaska, the Caribbean, Hawaii, California, Nevada and Europe.
  She loved and cherished spending time with her nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and always looked forward to special family gatherings. She was active in the Ferndale community, having graduated from Ferndale High School and then attended Western Washington University. She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Bellingham, which her husband John’s grandparents helped found.
  Maxine was preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, John Kammerzell; her parents, Nathan and Alcina (New) Vroman; and step-mother Frances Vander Yacht Vroman.
  She will be greatly missed by her children, Jay and wife Diane, Kirk and wife Joan, Kay and husband Arnie Klaus, and Kari and husband Jon Walter; grandchildren, Ryan, Nathan, Trevor, Jeremy, Leif, Kyle, Zack, Jacob and Stephanie; great-grandchildren, Casy, Chelsy, Maddy, Penelope and Owen; also her two brothers, Howard Vroman and wife Mary, Rod Vroman and wife Joan; her dear friend Harvey Bongea; numerous cousins and relatives; and many friends.
  The family invites you to celebrate Maxine’s life. There will be a graveside committal in Woodlawn Cemetery of Ferndale at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16. A memorial service with a reception following will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, in Trinity Lutheran Church, 119 Texas St., Bellingham.
  Memorial contributions may be made to the Trinity Lutheran Church of Bellingham or Stafholt Good Samaritan Center of Blaine. You may share your thoughts and memories of Maxine with her family at http://www.molesfarewelltributes.com.