Irene Rose Mitchell

Obituary Irene Knudson Mitchell February 5, 1918 - June 27, 2010 Irene was born the seventh of eight children to Louis and Elizabeth Zahn in Sanger, North Dakota. They soon moved to Mandan where she grew up and graduated from Mandan High School. She moved across country with her parents during World War II. After a war-extended engagement, she married Ed Knudson on March 6, 1944 at Visitation Church in South Tacoma. Together they raised three children, Gary, Gail and Jim, and were active in Holy Rosary Parish. Irene worked in radiology since coming to Tacoma and finished her career with nearly twenty years of service as a radiation therapist treating cancer patients at Tacoma General Hospital. Following her retirement, she was active in St. Charles Parish, particularly in Legion of Mary and visiting the sick. Irene enjoyed painting, gardening and gathering with family and friends. She is preceded in death by her husbands, Ed Knudson and Jim Mitchell and her daughter Gail Avakian, as well as six of her siblings. Survivors include her sons Gary (Martha Scoville) of Tacoma and Jim (Donna) of Puyallup, son-in-law, Mark Avakian of Cataldo, Idaho, her brother, Rev. Robert Zahn, MM, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Rosary will be recited at Gaffney Funeral Home on Thursday evening July 1st at 7pm. Funeral Mass with be celebrated at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 7112 South 12th Street, Tacoma WA 98465 at 11am on Friday, July 2, 2010.