Roxanna Marie Halls

I met Roxanna about 17 years ago. Her first husband has died after a prolonged illness and David’s Hall’s wife had recently also passed away. David and Roxanna reconnected and after a brief, whirlwind courtship, these former high school sweethearts reunited. This marriage caught their children completely off-guard!

Roxanna moved to Snohomish, Washington to start her married life with David and worked hard to begin a new, and often challenging, phase of her life. It became apparent that she was an excellent decorator and she quickly became the family decorator for birthdays and other important events. When my husband, Dave, turned 50 we had a surprise birthday party for him at David and Roxanna’s house. Since it was so close to Halloween, we were able to disguise it as a Halloween party. They made a giant birthday cake and David (Halls) popped out of the cake singing the Marilyn Monroe version of “Happy Birthday” to Dave.

A few years after they married, David and Roxanna moved to Wenatchee, Washington – in the Rock Island area. After they moved, one of Roxanna projects was to meticulously sort out all of David’s nuts, bolts, screws and washers (thousands of them!) She loved tending to her yard and decorating her house.

Roxanna and David’s sister, Lillian, became good friends. Roxanna took very good care of Lillian – just as if she were her very own sister. In fact, she became the primary person in Lillian’s life spending more time helping her than any of Lillian’s other family members. Just 3 weeks before Roxanna died, she was helping Lillian to send out thank you cards.

I was able to spend three months living at their home in the summer of 2010, while I was doing a dietetic internship at the Central Washington hospital. I never tired of the amazing view they had from their property and loved eating outside. We enjoyed many evenings together sitting at the dinner table talking about our day or stories from our past. From David and Roxanna’s stories and description of Ouray, I feel like I have already been there!

Roxanna brought her mother to Wenatchee so that she could take care of her for the last few months of her life. They were very close. Roxanna loved telling me about her children – Mark, Michael and Amber (and her grandson - Hexom.) They all seemed to inherit Roxanna’s hard work ethic and are all doing well in their professions. It is so good to know that part of Roxanna lives on in her children!

Roxanna devoted much of her time to volunteering at her local Catholic parish and making sure that the priest stayed well-fed and healthy! For a time, she also volunteered at a non-profit organization in town helping new mothers. Again, her organizational skills came in very handy. She supported David in his duties at his church and they developed great friendships from both congregations.

Over the course of 17 years, we spent many holidays and birthdays together. David and Roxanna and David’s family became our family and we often referred to them as “our better than family friends”.

Roxanna contacted me a month before she passed away to let me know that she was on hospice and that she did not have much time left. That came as quite a shock to me because that was the first time I had heard of her terminal illness. Dave, our daughter Whitney, and I drove from Boise to Wenatchee the next Saturday (July 4th) to spend an hour with her. I wanted to spend that time with her before she passed away. During this time of COVID-19, the likelihood of my being able to go to a funeral seemed remote. I had not seen her for about 4 years, but we spoke every few months on the phone. We had spoken in March, but she did not mention anything to me at that point. She was more concerned about Lillian in the nursing home.

The one hour that we spent together was precious and I’m so glad that we made that trip. She had two concerns: she wanted to die with peace and love in her heart and she wanted her son, Mark, to have successful treatment for his cancer. We talked candidly about death and I appreciated her openness. She asked me to offer a prayer before we left and I considered that an honor. We were able to have one more phone conversation before she passed away on July 26th. I am so glad that the worst of her illness was relatively short and that Michael and Amber could hold her hands when she passed. I’m glad that David made it home in time to be with her.

I’m sure that Roxanna is a busy angel right now – probably decorating or organizing something! She is definitely not resting! She promised to look in on me when she had time and I hope that I will feel her presence. I also hope that David, Mark, Michael, Amber and Hexom will feel peace and know when she is near!