Colleen Terlicker

Colleen Joyce Ann Schauer Terlicker was born June 15, 1928 in Bay Settlement, Wisconsin, the youngest of five children born to Killian and Myrtle (Leanna) Schauer.

Colleen grew up in Delavan and Darien Wisconsin and graduated from Delavan High School in 1946 where she was involved in the marching band all four years and choir her senior year. At the commencement ceremony, Colleen played Tchaikovsky’s “Andante Cantabile” as a solo on her French horn.

Colleen graduated from St. Anthony Hospital School of Nurses in Rockford, Illinois in 1949 as a Graduate Nurse and began practicing in Wisconsin. She worked at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac and Mercy Hospital in Janesville.

After five years of practicing as a nurse, at age 26, Colleen made a three-month trip to explore Europe with a group of other nurses and students. She spoke often of the many fond memories she had from that adventure.

In May 1956, Colleen chose to move out west. She planned to move to Portland, Oregon, but a nurse friend asked her to look at Seattle, Washington and she soon drove out with her parents and her friend, June, in her little two-door Chevy car. They made the trip an adventure and went sight-seeing through the US for three weeks on the way. She went to Providence Hospital after arriving in Seattle and secured a job right away, in Labor and Delivery.

Just a few months after meeting him on a blind date arranged by another nurse at Providence, Colleen married Raymond Terlicker. They held a small ceremony at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Capital Hill on March 2, 1957. Together they raised six children and were married for over fifty years until Ray passed away in February 2008.

On January 5, 1995 Ray and Colleen’s son Randy lost his life in the line of duty as a firefighter in the Mary Pang Warehouse Fire. This was a terribly sad time for the family and one that changed the course of Colleen’s many future endeavors as she began work to build endowment funds at both Holy Family Bilingual Catholic School and Kennedy Catholic High School to offer scholarships in his honor.

Colleen enjoyed life raising her six children, loving her grandchildren and great grandchildren and faithfully participating in Mass at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, in Seattle. She had a lifelong love of music and spent over 30 years singing and performing with the Rainier Chorale and the Holy Family Church choir. She served for many years feeding the homeless and praying outside Planned Parenthood. She opened her home to an international student, Anh, who was like another daughter to her. Colleen lived in the same little house where she and Ray raised their family from when they married in 1957 until she moved to First Golden Care in Lynnwood in late 2021. She adored the staff and other residents and cherished visits from her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends. She was always working on a puzzle and was still playing Scrabble and leading sing-a-longs until a few months before her death.

Colleen is survived by her children Geri Sullivan (Rob), Anthony Terlicker, Kathleen Toivola (Kari), Theresa Evans (Dan), Kim Moen (John), grandchildren Jonathan Sullivan (Lindsey), Katie Battino (Andy), Jana Sullivan, Jazzmyn Terlicker (Juan Silva), Dylan Evans (Alice), Colin Evans, Molly Evans, Charlotte Evans, Kristjan Toivola, Aleks Toivola, Matti Toivola, Xavier Moen, Kaia Moen, and great-grandchildren William and Andrew Sullivan, Costas and Lucia Battino, Jed Solis, and Coco Evans, her sister-in-law Beatrice Schauer of Darien, WI and many nieces and nephews.

Colleen was preceded in death by her husband, Raymond Terlicker, her son, Randall Terlicker, her parents, her brother Leland Schauer, her brother and sister-in-law Killian (Bub) and Betty Schauer, her sisters and brother-in-laws Bernice and Gilbert Swanson and Miriam and Joseph Stehsel.

Colleen’s funeral will be held August 19, 2026 at 10:50 am at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, 9622 20th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98106.

We invite everyone who knew Colleen to leave their memories of her and upload photos to the memorial page. Let us honor Colleen's memory by sharing our sweet memories of her, as a tribute to a life well-lived and a person well-loved.

Gifts may be made in memory of Colleen to the Fulcrum Foundation in care of Randy Terlicker Memorial Endowment fund-Holy Family School, 710 9th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104.