Meriam Ruth Tussinger

Meriam Ruth Tussinger, 94, longtime Ellensburg resident, was called home by Her Lord and Savior on Sunday, July 11,2021.  Viewing will be Friday, July 23 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at Johnston & Williams Funeral Home in Ellensburg.  Funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 24 at the Chestnut Street Baptist Church in Ellensburg with burial to follow at the IOOF Cemetery.

She was born to Hobson and Addie Bankston on November 21, 1926 in Kingston, Arkansas. Meriam was raised in Arkansas City, Kansas and graduated high school in 1944.  She met Corporal Walter Tussinger while he was home on leave. A whirlwind courtship took place. They married 15 days later on July 4, 1945.  After the war the couple would move to Spavinaw, Oklahoma to farm with Walter’s family. Hard times would hit the family and they relocated in 1949 to Washington State. She lived in Sunnyside where they would adopt a son, David, and daughter, Sharon. The family moved to Ellensburg in the 1972 and made it their home.

Meriam worked at the Ellensburg Floral shop for 12 years and left to help Walter work the Ellensburg Agate Shop that he had opened. The couple would run the business together for the next 27 years until Walter’s passing in 2001.

At the young age of 75, Meriam took up painting and found that she had a true talent for it. In her retirement she volunteered at KVH and taught lady’s Bible studies at the Chestnut Street Baptist Church.

She is preceded in death by her husband Walter, her son, two beloved brothers and her parents.

She will be missed by her “Kids” - Bret, Katherine, Baylee and Grant Hollar, Merle and Murna Woody and the Woody families as well as her Church family at Chestnut Street Baptist Church. A sister-in-law, nieces and nephews in Oklahoma, as well as many friends who were so special to her also survive. She was so thankful for the care she received from Shirley Cory, Cassy Lewis, Lacey Myers, Rachel Conger and Jeannie Johnson.

Memorial contributions in Meriam’s honor are suggested to the Chestnut Street Baptist Church Building Fund. 

Meriam’s words – “Don’t grieve for me – I am with my Savior, safe and happy, smiling.”

Johnston & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory of Ellensburg has been entrusted with caring for Meriam’s family.  Online condolences may be left at www.johnston-williams.com