Memories of Andrea: A Lovely Lady

Andrea Venishnick really did not need a name tag at our 40th-year SHS reunion in 2005.
She appeared pretty much like she did while we were growing up in Sandpoint, just more radiant.
I often said I was jealous that Andrea looked the youngest of all us old fogeys at that reunion, maybe even 20 years younger. 

We laughed a lot during Andrea and her daughter Kris' visit to the Lovestead three years ago.   What a glorious memory of a good friend!   

We were classmates at Sandpoint High School and earlier sat in the same auditorium row for sixth period choir class with Dona Meehan at Sandpoint Junior High. 

 I'm betting that, unlike me, Andrea could carry tune too, cuz the Venishnick's were a musically talented family, known throughout the community. 

Of course, a visit to the Lovestead on that August day included a 4-wheeler ride out to the God Tree for formal induction and signing the log book for the Lodgepole Society.  

In Andrea's memory, I'll have to go out there today and refresh my memory on what she wrote in the log book.

I'm sure it was something beautiful. 

Kristina Owens and her mom Andrea Venishnick (as we all knew her)

Andrea in the environment she loved best.
The photo is part of a collection she included in a calendar, which she created in 2011. 

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch, talking to my daughter-in-law Debbie when the dogs started barking in the garage.

"Have to go," I told Debbie, as the barking became more vociferous by the second. 

Shooing the pups back, I opened the door to see Kristina walking toward the door; her husband sat in the pickup.

"Do you have bad news?" I asked, observing a somewhat wearisome expression on her face. 

"Good and bad," she said.

Kris came to tell me of the passing of her mom Andrea.  Without going into detail, I'll simply say that Andrea, my classmate, was robbed of her "golden years" by an insidious disease, which we, in society, generally believe is reserved only for the elderly. 

So, the news was good in that Kris' mom suffers no more.  She is at peace. 

The bad and sad which go along with such news will last.  A beautiful, sophisticated and delightful woman has left our midst. 

It doesn't seem fair, but we all know the cliche:  life is not always fair, nor is death. 

Before Kris left, I expressed my appreciation for the hours she, her mom, and Bill (for a time) spent visiting here in 2011. 

Kris agreed.

"She laughed that day . . . ," Kris added. 

The disease had already begun to take its toll with Andrea's ability to communicate, but that didn't stop the bunch of us from having a meaningful and fun time. 

Andrea Venishnick adored her three children.  She also loved the outdoors and spent a career working for the U.S. Forest Service.  That had to have made her dad, Joe, a forester, very proud. 

And, of course, that connection and Bill's long friendship with Joe Venishnick made for an instant connection with Andrea.

I had the good fortune of teaching Andrea's two older children, Kris and Eric.  Kris kept me informed on what Mom was up to over the years.

Andrea and my friendship grew from the time I spoke at the dedication of Sandpoint High School's auditorium to her mother, Pat Venishnick, an active school board member and accompanist for many a high school music student over the years. 

I'd like to say that the quality of friendship trumped our earlier association as simply classmates. 

Andrea's passing makes me very sad, especially because so many people near and dear to me have left us in this past year. 

I cherish the day she came to visit and the "talks" we had over the phone even when Andrea could not complete a sentence.  We understood each other. 

My condolences to her husband, her children and all her family AND to the many classmates and close friends who will miss her vibrant and classy manner and sincere friendship. 

RIP Andrea.