RITA HUPY

Long-time La Conner resident Rita Hupy died on the evening of Thursday, August 7, at age 84.

She did not suffer at the end, and I thank the staff at Island Hospital for their kind care of her. She truly was ready to go, and we should be as thankful as she was.

She was preceded in death by her husband Art Hupy, and a brother and a sister.

She is survived by three sons, 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was a caring parent, a loving wife, a good friend to very many and always an extremely hard worker.

She did many good things with her life besides taking such good care of her family including: founding the La Conner Quilt Museum, being essential in the founding of the Museum of Northwest Art with Art Hupy, helping to restore the Gaches Mansion, volunteering to teach remedial reading to children for many years, and being a den mother to a collection of artists throughout her life.

Quilting was a very important part of her life, but the last great project she started was a book with the working title “The History of Art in La Conner.”

It was a great regret to her that because of her failing health she was unable to complete it, and she often tried unsuccessfully to continue on with it.

As well, Claire Swedberg, her co-author, is keenly interested in finishing this nearly completed work, and I will do what I can to help. So that we can resolve this last unfinished thing in her life as a living memorial to her, we will be setting up an account at Key Bank to help fund the completion of this book including final research and editing, photo collection and publishing. Any memorial donations would be welcome.

There will be a memorial service scheduled at a later date that will be published in this paper. I hope you all can come to celebrate her life as I know she would have liked. If you have any questions, you can contact me at: [email protected] or 360-399-1177.

I will miss her, as does the orange cat.

Hal Hupy, son