Rebecca Marie Lawton, local area registered nurse, passed away at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane from complications of COVID-19 contracted in the line of duty, Dec. 11, 2020. She was 35.
A memorial service for Rebecca will be held remotely via Zoom at 9 a.m. Saturday. To receive an invitation to the Zoom link, please send an email request to beccasmemorial@gmail.com and request the link.
Rebecca was born March 11, 1985, in Fredericksburg, Va., to John and Deborah Lawton; she was the oldest of six kids. When she was 11 years old, the family moved to Irons, Mich., and the family farm. She loved the animals on the farm and doing farm chores, but her true calling was always in medicine. Her grandfather was a doctor in the Navy and she liked to think she followed in his footsteps when she went into medicine.
Following high school graduation, she went to school at West Shore Community College in Ludington and graduated as a registered nurse. During her schooling, she worked as a CNA/LPN for the nursing home. Rebecca was also a volunteer EMT with the Maple Grove Township in Michigan. She moved to Roanoke, Va., in 2007 and worked as a trauma nurse in the emergency department of Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. About 10 years ago, Rebecca moved to Moscow, where she worked at Gritman Medical Center, and at the time of her death she was a nurse at Bishop Place in Pullman. She was a volunteer paramedic for the Moscow Fire Department and regularly helped care for the cats at the rescue shelter of the Humane Society.
Rebecca is survived by her parents, John and Deborah Lawton, of Fredericksburg, Va.; her five siblings, Tom (Rose) Lawton, of Moses Lake, Wash.; Sam (Rachel) Lawton, of Watertown, Minn.; Abigail (Ruben) Lawton, of Roanoke, Va.; Nathaniel (Willow) Lawton, of Little Falls, Minn.; and Elizabeth Raehn, of Fredericksburg, Va.; she also leaves behind four nieces and one nephew of whom she was so proud.
Online guest book is at www.bruningfuneralhome.com. Bruning Funeral Home of Colfax is caring for the family.
