Obituary of Kristine Marie Near

It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Kristine Marie Near (Galusha) on June 6th, 2023 at the age of 58. She passed away peacefully with her husband by her side after a three year battle of ALS.

 

Kristine was born on May 6th, 1965 in Tacoma, WA to Bud and Adonna Galusha. She was the 4th of 5 children. Kristine spent her childhood years camping, fishing and taking drives with her family. She and her family attended Our Savior Lutheran Church. 

 

Kristine went to Washington High School where she participated in cheerleading, dance and YoungLife. After high school, she attended Pacific Lutheran University and later transferred to Eastern Washington University where she continued dancing. She eventually obtained her MS in Speech Language Pathology in 1989. 

 

After graduating, she returned to the Tacoma area where she worked at various hospitals and clinics as an SLP. She met Scott Near, her future husband, in 1990 and they got married July 19th, 1991. Before starting a family, Scott and Kristine did many outdoor and water activities. Kristine also ran in several 5k and 8k runs, and even finished 1st place in one.

 

Kristine and Scott started their family in 1996 with the birth of Madison and then Branson soon followed in 1999. Kristine switched to working for the school district so she could devote more time to raising her children. She loved being able to work with special needs children, and created close bonds with her coworkers.

 

As Madison and Branson grew up, she went with them to countless sporting activities including gymnastics, baseball and tennis. Her and Madison went to numerous travel gymnastics competitions together, and her and Branson traveled for tennis matches. Scott and Kristine loved going on weekend getaways to Vegas or small towns as the kids grew older and went off to college. The whole family loved being outdoors and spent many summers going hiking, staying at cabins and taking the dogs for walks. 

 

After her ALS diagnosis in June of 2020 she reconnected with her faith and strengthened her relationship with friends and family. She is survived by her husband Scott, her children, Madison and Branson, her parents, Bud and Adonna, her siblings Scott, Shannon, Gwyn and Karen, as well as many nieces, nephews and friends. 

 

For those that play WORDLE Kristine is proud to say that she is an 11 time – 2 word guesser. 

 

Kristine will be greatly missed by many. Her laughter was infectious and she was constantly cracking jokes, even in leading up to her passing. She was strong and courageous as she worked through her ALS diagnosis. She was kind, gentle and so devoted to those she loved. Kristine will live on in the hearts of everyone who knew her.

 

We will be having a funeral service on Thursday June 22nd at 2pm at Faith Baptist Church, 5714 29th St NE, Tacoma, WA 98422 with a reception at the same location afterwards. We hope to see everyone there. 

 

In lieu of flowers, Kristine has asked for donations to be made to Faith Baptist Church. You can do so through this link: http://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/845444