Angele Oliva Degooyer Obituary (2025)

Angele Oliva (Sevigny) DeGooyer passed away early Saturday morning, June 21, 2025, just shy of her 99th birthday. She spent the final weeks of her life uplifted by family, friends, and caregivers at Good Samaritan Health Care Center, in Yakima. Angele was born on August 9, 1926, to Josephine and Arthur Sevigny in Oakwood, North Dakota. She was the second oldest of 13 siblings, plus two babies who died, living between North Dakota, Canada, Minnesota, and eventually Washington state. Faith, family, and the interrelatedness of people and places were central to her long life. She told vivid stories of growing up during the Depression in rural South Junction, Manitoba, and subsistence farming by selling meat, alfalfa, and Christmas trees. The wild berries of the prairies and the mischief kids could get into in the surrounding forests were happy memories, amidst the cold climate and snowy walks to the one-room schoolhouse. They mostly spoke French at home, and knew they were in trouble when their parents spoke French really fast! With her older sister, Marie, they were instrumental in taking care of the other siblings. This caregiving ability, resourcefulness, and love of children accompanied Angele through her life. She served as a teenage nanny for families in Crookston, Minnesota, and in Moxee, Washington, and cared for her own children and grandchildren. The Sevigny's joined other Minnesota families in migrating to Moxee in 1942, where jobs could be found in the growing hop industry. Angele remembered piling into her uncle Fr. Louis Emil Proulx's sedan and driving straight through until they reached Washington. Her new life in Moxee included graduation from Holy Rosary High School in 1945, where her good grades earned her a full scholarship to Marylhurst College, in Oregon. She decided to forego college and moved to Yakima, renting an apartment with her best friend, Blanche Deccio, and taking a job at Montgomery Ward. This began a long career in retail that included Newberry's, Bon Marche, and JCPenney, where she retired from in 1987. During her time raising her own children, she also worked during fruit seasons at warehouses and canneries, often with family members or friends. She met Bill DeGooyer on a double date in 1946, during Fourth of July week, and they were married August 11, 1947, at Holy Rosary Church in Moxee. They established their life together in Yakima and welcomed five children. Angele took pride in staying home with the children, and became known for her perfect pies, cakes, and cookies. She was a member of St. Paul Cathedral Parish for more than 70 years and made it possible for all five children to attend St. Paul School, St. Joseph Academy, and Carroll High School. Angele enjoyed travel in the continental U.S., Hawaii, Canada, Virgin Islands, and Europe. They traveled everywhere their children lived, with Angele often bringing cookies and Bill bringing whatever fruit was in season. They enjoyed reunions with their extended families. Family was the center of their lives. After Bill died in 2005, Angele joined a ministry to people in nursing homes and loved opportunities to meet her siblings at Legends and other casinos. She enjoyed visiting with people wherever she went. One of her well-honed skills was being able to identify who was related to whom, especially in Moxee! She was proud of her French-Canadian heritage and the connection between families on the North Dakota and Minnesota border and their descendants in Moxee. It was a small world of connection. She kept binders of obituaries that she cut out of the newspaper, not to dwell on death, but to remember and celebrate all the people she had the good fortune to know. Angele is survived by her five children, Diane (Ed Harmon), Kerry (Deborah), Bob (Kathy), Chuck (Michelle), and Elise (Bernie McDonough). She is also survived by four siblings, Juliette Rogers, Bernadette Tito, Dan Sevigny, Steve Sevigny. She adored her 14 grandchildren: Dion Clements; Wil, Jake (Emma), and Lauren DeGooyer; Darrin (Ryan) Pharmer and Reid (Kara) DeGooyer; Matt (Laura) DeGooyer, Ashley (Taft) Lee, Mike (Jayme) DeGooyer; Liam McDonough, Kim (Evan) Aguirre, Jessica (Kyle) Lepper, and Stephen Dinsdale. She was happy to meet her 13 great-grandchildren, Piper, Parker, Matilda, Mila, Pria, Harper, Taft, Makenna, Connor, Lucas, Madison, Reagan, Franklin. Angele was preceded in death by her husband, Henry William "Bill" DeGooyer, her granddaughter, Marnie Clements, her parents, Arthur and Josephine, and siblings, Marie Green, Pauline Wilson, Carolyn Quinn, and Bernard, George, Leonard, Roger and Louis Sevigny. She would want us to list all these names and know how everyone is related to each other, so we will have learned her lessons well. Special thanks to the staff at Riverview Manor Memory Care, Good Samaritan, and Heartlinks Hospice for their kindness and care during her final years. Rosary / Vigil on Thursday, August 7th at 5:00pm at St. Paul Chapel. A Funeral Mass will be held on August 8, 2025, at 10:00am, at St. Paul Cathedral, Yakima, with luncheon to follow. Graveside Service will be held at Calvary Cemetery, Yakima. Memorial donations may be made payable to St. Paul Cathedral Monsignor Ecker Foundation or La Salle High School and sent in care of Brookside Funeral Home (PO Box 1267, Moxee, WA 98936), who is caring for the family. Memories and condolences may be shared at www.brooksidefuneral.com.