Amanda Lennick, 31

Amanda Lennick tragically lost her life in the Oso, Wash., mudslide March 22, 2014. 

She was born in the Tri-Cities, Wash., Jan. 17, 1983. Amanda graduated from Kennewick High School in 2001, received an Associate of Arts degree from Spokane Falls Community College in 2004, and a bachelor’s in nursing from WSU-Tri-Cities in 2006. During school she traveled with her fellow students to help at Hurricane Katrina and to Belize on a medical missionary trip. Amanda was a strong, independent woman with a heart of gold.

When Amanda made an offer on the riverfront property in Oso, she knew she had found her “little piece of Montana,” her home. Even before the property closed, she visited the area every weekend, walking the neighborhood and getting to know her future neighbors. The beauty and peace she experienced in the woods and mountains around Oso is exactly what she wanted. It was life-changing. 

Amanda was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Tommy and Lillian Thompson, formerly of Kalispell and Lakeside; and her paternal grandfather, Adam Lennick, formerly of Kennewick, Wash. 

She is survived by her parents, Dennis and Jamie Lennick, of Kennewick; her brother, Matthew Lennick, sister-in-law Tam Trang-Lennick and nephew Elijah Thompson Lennick, of Battle Ground, Wash.; grandmother, Blythe Lennick, of Kennewick; aunts, Janet Lund of Lakeside, Sandra and Bill Lindstrom of Florence, Mary and BJ Lupton of Kalispell, Linda and John Sheehan of Kennewick, and Victoria Webber of Spokane; and many cousins, great-aunts and -uncles, friends and co-workers who will never forget her.

In lieu of a service, we prefer to honor Amanda and carry on her legacy through a scholarship. Members of the Flathead High School Class of 1971, with the family's help, have set up a nursing annual scholarship at Washington State University. Funds donated will support a nursing student at WSU-Tri-Cities who has a record of community service. Tax-deductible donations can be made online at https://secure.wsu.edu/give/default.aspx?fund=2055 or by sending a check to: WSU College of Nursing, P.O. Box 1495, Spokane, WA 99201. Whether online or by mail, please specify that your gift is for the Amanda Lennick Memorial Scholarship.