Isabelle 'Bunny' L. Martinson, 89
Isabelle ‘Bunny’ L. Martinson, 89
Isabelle “Bunny” L. Martinson, 89, passed away on Nov. 2, 2015, at Kootenai Health. She had been residing at Garden Plaza in Post Falls, Idaho.
Isabelle “Bunny” was born Nov. 3, 1925, in Seattle, Wash., to Harold and Emma Gulseth. Bunny was the older of two children.
Her early childhood years were spent in Hoodsport and Brennen, Wash., where she lived in logging camps (there was a mishap with a wrecked road grader, and not all sins were confessed). By the time she started high school, the family had moved to Index, Wash., where she was a plane spotter during World War II for the Department of Civil Defense on the mountains surrounding the town of Index. Later the family moved to Seattle where her father worked in the Navy Shipyard. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944 and worked as a dental assistant until she met a submariner from the USS Puffer, Ken Martinson, whom she married Sept. 17, 1947, in Seattle.
After Ken graduated from the University of Washington, they moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, and later back to Seattle and Everett, Wash., where they raised three children. Bunny worked at Providence Hospital in Everett as a switchboard operator in the late ’70s. They moved to Camano Island, Wash., in 1979 for retirement and lived there through 2012 when they moved to Post Falls. She was married for 67 years to her husband, Kenneth R. Martinson (deceased as of July 3, 2015).
Bunny enjoyed walking, skiing, boating, quilting and being with her friends. She loved being around Puget Sound and spending time at the beach. There were many clam digging forays. There were also annual razor clam adventures to Ocean Shores with her friend, Marilyn, and all the kids you can cram into two station wagons.
Survivors include her son, Eric Martinson and Leslie Harding of Shoreline, Wash.; son Roger and Diane Martinson of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; daughter Ann and David Sack of Tucson, Ariz.; granddaughter Jennifer (Martinson) and Lance Haun and great-granddaughter Elida Haun of Kennewick, Wash.; granddaughter Katherine Martinson of Coeur d’Alene; sister Joyce (Gulseth) Cosper of Bothell, Wash., and loving kitty, Lucy.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of North Idaho. Inurnment will be at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Wash. Please share your thoughts and memories with Bunny’s family and friends at www.belltowerfuneralhome.com.