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Anne Marie Michel

Anne Marie Michel passed away peacefully on April 10, 2019, in Coeur d‘Alene, Idaho, with her family by her side. She was preceded in death by her mother, Olga Shaw and her father, Hugh B. Shaw.

She left behind her husband and best friend of more than 52 years, Eugene C. Michel. Anne also left behind her dear brother, Hugh B. Shaw Jr. and her kids, Thomas (“Tommy”) Ferguson, Kevin Ferguson, James (“Jimmy”) Ferguson, Joanne Ferguson, Karen Crockett and her husband, Brian Crockett. She also leaves behind her grandchildren, Benjamin (“Ben”) Ferguson, Chad Ferguson, Wendy Cavender, Katie Ferguson and Adam Crockett, and six great-grandchildren.

Anne had an extraordinary life! She was born in Detroit, Mich., and the family later moved to Spokane, Wash. Anne graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 1958 and in 1964 she earned a degree in nursing. Anne was a single mom of four as she worked her way through college, which is an accomplishment in itself. Anne truly answered her calling and dedicated her life to this profession for many years in emergency rooms, maternity wards, extended care and private nursing.

She later met the love of her life, Gene Michel, and the fifth child, Karen, joined the family! Anne referred to her kids as “her puppies” and often said that having her puppies was the greatest achievement of her life. In “secret” she called each one of them her favorite, but they all knew how deep her love was for each of them!

Anne was such a wonderful woman, whatever title one may assign — wife, mom, sister, cousin, daughter, grandmother, or friend. She expressed her love of her family, friends and the world around her through her art. Anne was well known in the Pacific Northwest as an accomplished artist. Her primary mediums were oil painting, watercolors and china painting. Anne also was a seamstress and created everything from clothing for her children to some amazing, even award-winning quilts.

With the exception of June bugs, which seemed to scare the heck out of her, Anne had such a love of life and held in her heart that all forms of life should be cherished. Anne also loved her “tech toys” and played on computers, multiple tablets and various other gadgets and she adored her audiobooks!

What shines above everything else was Anne’s quick-witted sense of humor. She enjoyed most sitcoms and lots of funny movies that most 28-year-old guys would like. Anne could shoot off one-liners out of the blue and could have been an amazing stand-up comic. She almost got kicked out of her painting club a couple of times for her “flowery” choice of words. Her ability to keep everyone laughing is one of the things we may miss the most.

Services to celebrate Anne’s life will be held at 2 p.m. on May 11, 2019, at All Saints Lutheran Church, 314 S. Spruce St., Spokane, WA 99201.