Bernice Sue Klinefelter

Bernice Sue Klinefelter, 85, of Spokane, died on October 21, 2018. Born in Spokane on January 15, 1933; Italian-American cooking and payday thrift set the tone of the house. Early on, she decided that a paycheck and a handshake should weigh the same. She spliced rope that would not forgive a bad lay. A splice shop marlinspike wiped taught apprentices to wait. Colleagues still mention a splice shop marlinspike wiped. She married John in 1958. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised two sons and a daughter through public schools and ordinary weather. After John died in 2011, she kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember a wave from the driveway that meant you were seen. She liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. She died in Spokane, among streets she never needed to explain. The extra coffee is still in the thermos.