Alice “Collette” Gleason, 90, passed away peacefully on April 27, 2025 surrounded by family. Collette was born on April 11, 1935 in Glenamaddy, Ireland in County Galway to John and Alice Murphy. Collette was the middle child and had 10 brothers and sisters – Sean,Teresa, Leo,Dympna, Philomena, Arthur, Dermot, Corny, Fintan and Tony (who sadly passed away at the age of 2). She lived in Killimor, Ireland for much of her early life. Her Dad, a Garda Síochána (police officer), passed away in 1945 when Collette was 10 years old. Soon after, Collette went to live with her AuntMary in Cork, Ireland to continue her schooling. She made frequent. trips home to Killimor to see herMom and siblings.

In 1954 at age 19, Collette came to the United States to join her sisters Teresa, Dympna and Phil (Phil returned to Ireland several years later) and eventually settled in the Seattle area where she helped care for Dympna’s young children. After a few months, she moved out on her own and got a job at the local phone company and started taking college courses at Seattle University. Dympna’s husband Mark was a Navy officer and one evening in 1958 they invited Collette to join them at the Officer’s Club on Whidbey Island where she met a young Navy Pilot, Clarence James Gleason (“Jim”). Jim asked her to marry him that night and she said yes. They were married the following year in 1959 at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle with a reception following at Sand Point Naval Base. They were a striking couple with Jim at six feet tall and Collette at just under five feet tall.

Jim andCollette lived on Whidbey Island for a couple of years before moving to Burien where they bought their first home. The first four of their five children (Pat, John, Teresa and Kevin) were born in Burien. In 1973, they moved into a small farm house with a big red barn on nine acres in Enumclaw to fulfill their dream of getting back to their rural roots. Over the years, they raised cows, chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep and even had a horse. Soon after arriving in Enumclaw, it was clear they were far exceeding the capacity of their 2 bedroom, one bathroom home. Jim got to work building an addition adding a large living room, two more bedrooms and a much needed 2nd bathroom. Chris was born in 1977, the last of the five children.

Collette stayed home to care for her kids when they were young.Her children were notorious oversleepers so she would often bring them downstairs one at a time carrying them on her back (piggy back style). As the kids got older and money got more tight, Jim and Collette each took on a daily paper route delivering papers starting at 5am each morning, seven days a week. Jim would then leave for work at Boeing and Collette would start getting the kids ready for school. When Chris was old enough to be on his own at home after school, Collette started working at Safeway, a job she held until a few years after Jim retired from Boeing and Chris was almost done with College.

Collette loved to talk to people and would often sing a rhyming song when learning someone’s name for the first time. She could talk for hours and loved to tell stories to friends, family and those she just met. This was especially true while she was a cashier for Safeway as she loved to chat with all of the customers that came through her line. She also considered herself a professional budgeter. Her kids called it totting as every scrap of paper in the house had a series of numbers on it as she strategized how to stretch their modest income as far as possible. She ensured we had what we needed as a family and still found a way to put some money into savings. She loved to ask how much people made and what their bills were so she could provide them insight as to how to budget appropriately. She ensured all of her children went to college and set up generous college funds for each of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Collette was a devout Irish Catholic who was dedicated to the mission of spreading the word of God. She was an active member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church from their arrival in Enumclaw in 1973. She ran the youth education program (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine or CCD) for several years, was a Eucharstic Minister, member of St. Therese’s Circle, Bible Study and performed the Irish jig numerous times at the annual St Patrick’s Day celebration in the church hall. She was also an active member of the choir for decades until 2020 when she moved to Issaquah to be closer to her children and grandchildren.

Collette was preceded in death by her beloved husband Jim who passed away in 2012 and oldest child Pat who passed away in 2018. Collette is survived by her children John and wife Jennifer, Teresa and husband Don, Kevin, Chris and wife Jessica, nine grandchildren Donovan and wife Hannah, Sean, Ashley and husband Tyler, Marisa, Finn, Cade, Hailey, Cody and Callie, great grandchildren Tatum and Jace and brothers Dermot and Fintan.

A rosary will be held at 9:15 am followed by a funeral Mass at 10am with a reception following at 11am on Monday, May 12th at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Her burial will be at 1:30pm onThursday, May 15th at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made in her name toMonsignor Farrelly Memorial Youth Fund, 1614 Farrelly St. Enumclaw, WA 98022.

Arrangements are by Weeks’ Enumclaw Funeral Home. All may sign the online guestbook at www.weeksfuneralhomes.com