Spirit of adventure helped carry Elizabeth Egge through her life
By Matthew Craft
Seattle Times staff reporter
Five years ago, Elizabeth Egge grabbed an oar and took her first ride in a whitewater raft. After a harrowing trip down the Deschutes River in Oregon, Mrs. Egge bounced out of the raft and declared, "Look what I can do when I'm 80."
Mrs. Egge, a Seattle resident since 1933, died Tuesday (Nov. 19). She was 85.
That same spirit led her on annual fishing trips to Alaska with her husband, Richard. Or from Ogden, Utah, to Seattle, where she knew no one, to start classes at the University of Washington.
"She was a gamer," her son John Flagg said. "She'd spend weeks on fishing boats or in fishing camps."
"You could put her anyplace and she'd just get along," said her stepson Richard Egge of Bellevue. "She was an absolutely wonderful woman. She was very giving, very kind."
"Betty," as the then-Elizabeth Lake was known, lost her parents when she was young and was raised by an aunt in Ogden. After moving to the Northwest, she married her first husband, John Flagg Jr., in 1941. He died in 1950. For the next decade, while working at the UW and modeling ski clothes for Buzz Fiorini of the Fiorini Ski School, she often said she was "growing up with her children."
In 1965, she married Richard D. Egge, whom she knew from mutual friends at the UW. Egge had five children from a previous marriage, and the two families made a smooth merger. One of Egge's daughters, Janet Acarregui, said that her four young siblings could create quite a storm.
"Betty wasn't used to all the commotion," she said. "But she came into my life when I was 20 years old and treated me like a daughter. She just inherited five more children." And the five of them quickly considered her a second mother.
Mrs. Egge used her free time in a variety of activities. She played golf with friends at Broadmoor Golf Club and raised money for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center.
In the last six months, as her husband had six minor strokes, Mrs. Egge spent most of her time taking care of him. On Tuesday, Mrs. Egge said she felt nauseous and went to bed early. Her heart failed in her sleep.
"She actually just laid down, went to sleep and didn't wake up," Richard Egge said.
Besides her husband, Richard, Mrs. Egge is survived by two children, John Flagg of Linden, Utah, and Jackie Laird of McMinnville, Ore., and five stepchildren: Janet Acarregui of Seattle; Jon Egge of Woodinville; Richard Egge of Bellevue; Stephen Egge of Puyallup; and Mary Parsons of Portland. Also surviving are 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Memorial Fund for Dick Acarregui at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The fund is for the study of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Spirit of adventure helped carry Elizabeth Egge through her life
By Matthew Craft
Seattle Times staff reporter
Five years ago, Elizabeth Egge grabbed an oar and took her first ride in a whitewater raft. After a harrowing trip down the Deschutes River in Oregon, Mrs. Egge bounced out of the raft and declared, "Look what I can do when I'm 80."
Mrs. Egge, a Seattle resident since 1933, died Tuesday (Nov. 19). She was 85.
That same spirit led her on annual fishing trips to Alaska with her husband, Richard. Or from Ogden, Utah, to Seattle, where she knew no one, to start classes at the University of Washington.
"She was a gamer," her son John Flagg said. "She'd spend weeks on fishing boats or in fishing camps."
"You could put her anyplace and she'd just get along," said her stepson Richard Egge of Bellevue. "She was an absolutely wonderful woman. She was very giving, very kind."
"Betty," as the then-Elizabeth Lake was known, lost her parents when she was young and was raised by an aunt in Ogden. After moving to the Northwest, she married her first husband, John Flagg Jr., in 1941. He died in 1950. For the next decade, while working at the UW and modeling ski clothes for Buzz Fiorini of the Fiorini Ski School, she often said she was "growing up with her children."
In 1965, she married Richard D. Egge, whom she knew from mutual friends at the UW. Egge had five children from a previous marriage, and the two families made a smooth merger. One of Egge's daughters, Janet Acarregui, said that her four young siblings could create quite a storm.
"Betty wasn't used to all the commotion," she said. "But she came into my life when I was 20 years old and treated me like a daughter. She just inherited five more children." And the five of them quickly considered her a second mother.
Mrs. Egge used her free time in a variety of activities. She played golf with friends at Broadmoor Golf Club and raised money for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center.
In the last six months, as her husband had six minor strokes, Mrs. Egge spent most of her time taking care of him. On Tuesday, Mrs. Egge said she felt nauseous and went to bed early. Her heart failed in her sleep.
"She actually just laid down, went to sleep and didn't wake up," Richard Egge said.
Besides her husband, Richard, Mrs. Egge is survived by two children, John Flagg of Linden, Utah, and Jackie Laird of McMinnville, Ore., and five stepchildren: Janet Acarregui of Seattle; Jon Egge of Woodinville; Richard Egge of Bellevue; Stephen Egge of Puyallup; and Mary Parsons of Portland. Also surviving are 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Memorial Fund for Dick Acarregui at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The fund is for the study of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
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