Ainie Belle Powell

Ainie Belle Powell, 101, of Grand Coulee, Washington, passed away on May 8, 2026, at her home on Powell Ridge, surrounded by family.

She was born September 24, 1924, in Alread, Arkansas, to Lillie Bell Shoffitt and William Henry Pack. Ainie was the youngest of six children. Her father, William, was a surveyor and store owner who also served as a Justice of the Peace and, unofficially, as the Town Doctor.

As a young woman, Ainie was briefly married to Morris Watson, with whom she had her son Paul. In 1946, she married Leo Marvin Powell, a decorated World War II veteran who raised Paul as his own. Together, Ainie and Marvin had three sons: Larry, Gary, and Keith.

Ainie's life took her through various parts of the country. She first moved to Washington State, where the family lived in Quincy and her son Keith was born in nearby Ephrata, before returning to the South for a period and living in both Oklahoma and Kansas. The family later returned to Washington, first living in Spokane before settling in Electric City, where Ainie and Marvin spent the majority of their lives together. In her later years, Ainie spent a period living in Pahrump, Nevada, before finally returning to Washington after Marvin's passing.

Over the course of 101 years, Ainie experienced a world vastly different from the one into which she was born. Her life stretched from rural Arkansas in the 1920s through generations of changes in technology, culture, and everyday life.

Ainie was a highly skilled seamstress with an exceptional eye for construction and detail. She could recreate virtually any piece of clothing without using a pattern, relying instead on her own intuition, skill, and experience.

She was also a longtime member of the Rebekah Lodge.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Leo Marvin Powell; her parents, Lillie Bell Shoffitt and William Henry Pack; her sisters Ethel, Bessie, Erma, and Willie; her brother Harvey; her son Gary, who died in infancy; her former daughters-in-law Sharon, Larry's first wife, and Kitty, Keith's first wife; and her daughter-in-law Marilyn.

She is survived by her cherished sons Paul and his longtime partner, Jane; Larry and his wife, Bonnie; and Keith; her grandchildren Tracy, Tony, Lonny, and Jessica; as well as several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Ainie's passing marks the end of a remarkable span of family history and the close of a generation.