Edna Mae Olmstead Sego Payne

ODESSA, Wash. — Edna Mae Olmstead Sego Payne went home to be with her Lord July 6, 2005. Edna was born April 7, 1914, at Rapid City, S.D. She spent her childhood there, graduating in 1932 from Rapid City High.

After graduation she went with her family to Walsenburg, Colo., where they operated a restaurant. While there, she met and married Benjamin F. "Fred" Sego, who preceded her in death.

In 1935, in search of a better life during the Depression, Edna and her large Olmstead family traveled to Western Montana. There, on Flathead Lake, northeast of Polson, they build log homes nestled at the foot of the Mission Mountains.

She raised her first family of three both in Western Montana and, during World War II (1941-1945), in Spokane. She moved her family from Polson to Okanogan, Wash., in 1949.

She met and married Guy R. Payne, Jr. in Okanogan in 1950. Together with her first family, they raised their family of four (her second family) there and in Bridgeport, Wash., where they moved in 1957. Guy preceded her in death in Bridgeport in 1990, after 40 years of a full and happy marriage.

Edna worked for many years in the food service field. She had cafes in Plains, and in Okanogan, and worked at the old Okanogan Hotel/Cafe for Bill and Alice Kelley. In Bridgeport, she and her husband Guy owned and operated the Millwheel Cafe, and she worked in other area cafes. She leaves behind many friends and neighbors in the Bridgeport community.

During the last four years she lived in Odessa with her youngest daughter, Susie and Susie's husband Casey, who kept her in their loving care and were with her when she started her journey to the house of the Lord.

The joy of her life was being with her full family of children and grandchildren, teaching them to fish and camp. Her favorite pastime was to camp at the mountain resort town of Conconully, Wash., with her grandchildren during the summer months to fish and cook their favorite meals.

Preceding her in death were here parents, Henry and Mabel Olmstead; brothers Harmon, Roy and Clyde; sisters, Marge Morkert and Vera Morkert, and stepbrothers and sister, Dick and Frank Commerford and Alice Commerford Lane.

Surviving and missing her are her last remaining brother, John Olmstead of Bremerton, Wash.; her children, Fred L. Sego of Polson, Sally Sego McAdoo of Whidbey Island, Wash., Henry L. Sego of Post Falls, Idaho; stepson Thomas S. Payne of Virginia; daughter, Celeste Payne Bush of Brewster, Wash.; son, Guy R. Payne, Jr. of Grand Coulee, Wash., and daughter Susie Payne Largent of Odessa; 22 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews and friends throughout the South Dakota, Montana and Washington areas. We all will continue to feel our love for her forever.

Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Omak Memorial Cemetery on Elmway drive with a gathering after at the Okanogan Senior Center to celebrate her life and share memories with her full and loving family and friends.