Jennifer Sarah Alice Spatz, the first child of Jurgen and Janice Spatz, was born at home in an idyllic woodsy setting in Woodinville, Wash., Sept. 14, 1970. She died unexpectedly Wednesday, May 6, 2015, at her home in Oak Harbor at the young age of 44. She was the first first-generation grandchild born in America of her proud paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles who immigrated in 1955 from Germany. Jennifer attended elementary and middle school in Coupeville and high school in the class of 1988 in Oak Harbor. She was an avid reader and attended many classes at Skagit Valley College, including psychology, Native American history and the arts. Jen had difficulty finding her way in this life until she centered in upon a home group in AA, where the study of her own recovery took root.

Jennifer was preceded in death by her infant son, Sebastian. Jennifer leaves behind her loving parents, Janice and Jurgen Spatz; her sister, Johanna; brother-in-law, Brian Boyle; and nephews Tristan and Tyler, all of Oak Harbor; and many aunts, uncles and cousins in Vermont, Illinois and Seattle. We are all so grateful for our last too few years with Jen. We feel a vast emptiness in her absence. Tristan and Tyler have lost their Taunte Neni. The family will create a private gathering.