Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Annie Rose John
(September 11, 1942 - February 8, 2013)
Annie Rose John, 70, passed away in the early morning of Friday, February 8, 2013, at a Tacoma, Washington, hospital. Annie was born on September 11, 1942, at Franks Landing on the Nisqually River. She was a Nisqually and Puyallup Indian. Her early life was lived in the Nisqually River valley and her later adult life spent in Tacoma on or near the Puyallup Indian Reservation.
Annie was the daughter of Rose (Frederick) and Herman Klaber John, Sr. Her father Herman "Buck" John entered the U.S. Army and World War II in October 1943 and was killed in action (KIA) during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium in January 1945. Her mother Rose (Frederick Miles) John died as result of injuries in an auto accident in Tacoma on February 13, 1952 - leaving Annie as orphan at age 9.
Before and during the War, Annie lived with her parents and older siblings Melvin Iyall, Mary Miles, Herman John, Jr., and Louise John at Franks Landing, where a younger sister Sandra Sally John was also born. After her father's war death, the family moved to the Salishan Housing Project off Portland Avenue in Tacoma, where another brother Frank (Moxlie) Griese was born.
After her mother's death, Annie and siblings Herman (Babe), Jr., Louise, and Sandra were taken into the households of her grandmother Angeline (Angie) Frank and aunt Maiselle Bridges at Franks Landing. There they attended the Nisqually Grade School with cousins Suzette, Valerie and Alison Bridges, daughters of Al and Maiselle Bridges.
Annie and sisters Louise and Sandra returned as adults to Tacoma - where siblings Mary Miles Frank and Melvin Iyall had remained - to raise their families. Annie was mother to a daughter Suzette Marie and a son William.
In her younger years, Annie was a fan of baseball and basketball "town team" sports of Western Washington tribes. Through the years, she was one of the constant "cooks and helpers in the kitchen" on call to sustain ceremonial and special event lives of Indian communities, schools and elders programs at Puyallup, Nisqually and The Landing: "She was a really good cook! She could really cook the best 'fritters!'"
Her life was largely centered on Portland and Pacific Avenues in Tacoma. Over the past two decades, Annie was afflicted with cerebral tumors that tolled both upon her vision and mobility. Yet, as earlier, Annie continued to give a "lotta loving and a lotta caring" to her family, street companions and "especially to and in behalf of the homeless." She gave help and care - often at her own expense.
"Annie was a gentle, joyous, humorous, warm, kind, friendly and pleasant presence in the lives of many people. Extraordinarily so - in all categories!" say her friends and family.
Some say the song for her now is, "Take a load off, Annie." Perhaps better is one that gained new currency in 1968 when Annie joined siblings Babe and Louise, cousins, and aunts Maiselle Bridges and Edith McCloud in the Poor Peoples Campaign and Resurrection City of Washington, D.C. That is: "Somewhere a Place for Us." Annie found her place in the hearts of most people who came to know her.
In addition to her two children, surviving Annie are a sister Louise John and brother Frank Griese. Predeceased are her mother and father and brothers Melvin Iyall and Herman John, Jr., and sisters Mary Miles Frank and Sandra Claunch.
Surviving also are an aunt, "Grandma Maiselle Bridges," and an uncle, Billy Frank, Jr.
Predeceased siblings of her mother Rose Frederick John are Elsie Capoeman, Finley LeClair, Andrew McCloud II and Don McCloud. Predeceased siblings of her father Herman Klaber John, Sr., include Harriett Charles, Margaret Dillon, Joseph John Jr., Suzanne John, Edith John Mercado Owens and Elsie Obi. From the progeny of these and her siblings, Annie Rose John leaves many cousins, nephews and nieces of first, grand and great degrees or generations.
A funeral Wake will be held for Annie at 6 p.m., Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at the Nisqually Tribal Center across Highway 507 from Red Wind Casino at 4820 She-Nah-Num Drive on the Nisqually Indian Reservation. Funeral Services are at the Tribal Center at 11 a.m., Thursday, February 14, followed by burial at Nisqually Leschi Cemetery off Reservation Road near the baseball field.
Mortuary and funeral services are under direction of Piper-Morley Funeral Home of Tacoma, Washington.
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