Miriam Agnes (McHoes) Redding

Newspaper deliverer, 74Miriam Agnes (McHoes) Redding, of Seattle, died Saturday, June 7, 2003, in a Seattle nursing home of respiratory failure.

Mrs. Redding was born May 27, 1929 to Frank and Myrtle McHoes in Plaza, Wash.

She was the last of seven children and was raised on a farm in the Moses Lake, Wash., area.

In Feb. 1945, she married Vernon D. Waters. They later divorced.

In 1949, Mrs. Redding moved to Astoria where she met and married Lionel Merl Redding on March 8, 1950. He died in 1988.

The Reddings worked on their own crab boat and delivered the Oregonian and Oregon Journal for 15 years in Astoria. Family members say Mrs. Redding enjoyed hosting card games, crocheting, cooking, baking, gardening and church activities. She had been a member of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church in Astoria since 1964.

In 1979, she moved to Rochester, Wash., and to Centralia, Wash., in 1986. She moved to a retirement home in Chehalis, Wash., and later to a nursing home in Seattle to be near her daughter.

She is survived by a sister, Louise B. Kirkpatrick of Centralia; one son and daughter-in-law, Toby Rodger (Waters) Redding and Julianne Redding; a daughter and son-in-law, Sharon (Redding) Smith and Rick Smith of Memphis, Tenn.; nine grandchildren, Desiree Loehr of Pendleton, Dalena Redding of Chehalis, Robert Redding Jr. of Horsel Bend, Ark., Aaron Z. Redding of Kingston, Ariz., Paula Sullivan of Coer d’Alene, Idaho, Michael M. Redding of Tri-Cities, Wash., Scott K. Redding of Marysville, Wash., Sheena Putman of Seattle and Dustin L. Smith of Memphis; 13 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by a son, Robert Merl in 1999 and a grandson, Rodger William Merl in 1974.

No service is planned at this time.

Interment will be at Greenwood cemetery in Astoria.