Ethelyne Elvera Hendrickson Vea was born on October 9th, 1918 in Aspen, Colorado to Jacob Jack & Mathilda Hendrickson.   These were the days in which Aspen was a mining town, with skiing that was pretty good too.  Her Swedish parents had emigrated from Finland prior to the turn of the 20th century, and met and married in Aspen.  She grew up with two older brothers, Bert and Henry Hendrickson.  She loved visiting the mine where her father and brothers worked; and loved to fish and ski with them too.  She was the Valedictorian of her high school graduating class.
 During World War II, she was one of  a few hundred women selected by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation to be trained as an Aeronautical Engineer at Iowa State University.  She was then sent to Buffalo, New York to work in the Engineering Lab for Curtiss-Wright, which later became Westinghouse after the war ended.  She met Matthew Johnson Vea Major General, US Army Air Corps, WWII, S. Pacific while they both were working for Westinghouse in Buffalo.  They married on June 3rd of 1950.  They moved to Boulder, Colorado where Matt completed his Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Colorado; and their eldest son Matthew Jack Johnson Vea BS Electrical Engineering was born in 1951.  They then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where Matt worked for General Electric GE as the VP of the Jet Turbine Engine Division out of Nellis Air Force base.  Their second son, Dr. Henry Walter Vea, MD Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, was born in 1953; and their son Lynn Berglund Vea M.S. Metallurgical Engineering was born in 1955.  The Vea family moved to Richland, WA in 1955, when Matt was transferred by GE to the Hanford area.  Their daughter, Dr. Christel Elise Vea Reynolds, D.S., Ph.D. Information Technology & Systems Engineering; Electrical Engineering was born in Richland in 1960. 
 The Vea family have been members of West Side United Protestant Church since 1955.  Ethelyne has been a member of Questers since the study group’s inception in the Tri-Cities in the 1960s.  She was a member of the AAUW.  She served on the Richland Community Concert board a number of times.  And served her community as a volunteer for the local Republican Party in many capacities.  She enjoyed singing in her church choir and in the Consort Columbia.  She was a member of the Artemesia Court of the Amaranth, the Eastern Star; and actively supported her husband’s Masonic Lodge activities with the Blue Lodge, the Royal Arch, the Knights Templar, the Commandery, the Masada Shrine, and the Grand Lodge of Washington.  She was an excellent seamstress, writer, and cook.
 She worked at Holosonics in the late 1960s this company developed the technology for Ultrasound equipment and for Atlantic Richfield Hanford Company ARCO as a draftsperson out at T-Plant on the Hanford site.  
 Ethelyne received a BA in Liberal Arts in 1978 from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA.  She was an avid reader and student of life.  She and Matt always emphasized academics, so they were extremely proud of their children’s education and accomplishments.  They always found a way for their children to take more Mathematics, Science and English classes.
 She is preceded in death by her parents Jack & Mathilda Hendrickson; her two brothers, Henry Hendrickson and Bert Hendrickson; and her beloved husband, Matthew Johnson Vea.  She is survived by: her son Matthew Jack Johnson Vea Royce City, Texas and his wife Nadine Russell Vea, and their seven children Matthew Benjamin, Steven, Rachel, Derricka, Tyrone, Clarissa and Gabriel and four grandchildren by Matthew Benjamin and his wife Jamie Matthew Tyler, Tanner, Trevor and Twyla; her son Dr. Henry Walter Vea, MD Portland, Oregon and his four children Kathleen, Hollister, Elizabeth and Charlotte; her son Lynn Berglund Vea Mokena, Illinois and his wife Maryann Simons Vea and their twin sons Brian and Edgar; and by her daughter Dr. Christel Elise Vea Reynolds West Richland, Washington and her husband Captain Joseph Lee Reynolds U.S Army, Retired and their three children Jacob, Noah and Sarah.
  Memorial Services will be held on Thursday, May 27th , 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at West Side United Protestant Church in Richland, WA.  A private family graveside service will be held prior to the memorial service.  Funeral arrangements are being made by Einan’s Funeral Home in Richland, WA; and interment will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Richland, WA.
 In lieu flowers, donations may be made in Ethelyne’s name to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation.