Rhodella Mae Maricich

Rhodella Mae Maricich, also known as Punki Coleman, passed away peacefully on September 8, 2025 after receiving the last rites of the Catholic Church surrounded by her husband Joe, and her children Khaela and Dominic.

Della Maricich carved a bold path through life. Born in Praire du Chein, Wisconsin on June 8,1944 to Willis G Coleman and Virginia Mae Grimme, she enjoyed a small town childhood in The Quad Cities of Illinois with older sister Charlotte and her younger siblings Gerald and Georgia. After her parents divorced, Della chose to spend winters in Florida with her father, attending West Palm High School, passing the rest of the year back in Illinois at United Township High School. Though she went on to live far from her roots, Della remained close with her friends from Illinois and Florida, returning regularly for class reunions and other celebrations.

After high school, Della joined the United States Marine Corps, attending boot camp at Parris Island, SC. She was discharged from El Toro Air Base where she was assigned as a personnel specialist supporting Marines in their return home from Vietnam. She attended college at Chapman College and went on to study law at Pepperdine while working as a paralegal at Rutan & Tucker Law Firm. Della shared many stories of her adventures enjoying life in Southern California of the 1960's, driving her dark blue Corvette around the endless citrus groves of Orange County.

In 1968 Della moved north to the Seattle area to work as a paralegal at Albert & Steensland in Federal Way, WA. It was there that she caught the eye of a young designer working across the office park who needed help moving his sailboat the next weekend. That Saturday sailing date became a lifelong love affair with her husband, Joe Maricich. They were married in 1971 and enjoyed 54 ½ years of marraige and shared adventures.

In 1972, the couple used Della's GI Bill to buy their first home on lower Queen Anne Hill. A mortgage lender told Della, "those old houses up there are worthless," but after getting lost in the neighborhood on her way to a party, Della's mind was set. A year after the birth of Khaela, in 1975 they moved to a bigger house on top of the hill with more room for babies and a huge yard that Della loved tending. In September 1976, Dominic was born and Della supported Joe in starting his own design business. Shortly after their arrival on Queen Anne, the pastor at St. Anne Church asked Joe and Della to take the teenage youth of the parish on a ski trip. Thus began Della and Joe’s tenure as leaders of St. Anne Youth Group, which lasted for 6 years and supported dozens of teenagers in their transition to adulthood. Della remained a devoted member of St. Anne all her life, serving as a Eucharistic Minister, lector, parish census coordinator, Christmas pageant director, and then as Lector Coordinator until the last years of her life.

After her children were born, Della got involved in Weightwatchers and soon became an instructor. After several years she rejoined the legal profession as a paralegal working for a number of large law firms. In the mid 80's, when Joe’s design firm had grown enough to require a full-time administrator, Della convinced him that by making the company a “woman-owned” business they would get more business from the government. She thereby became the CEO of Exhibit Design Consultants, Inc, running the administrative and sales staff while Joe managed design and production. Traveling regularly to tradeshows, Della recognized an opportunity to begin lecturing on her exhibiting expertise. With her charm and intelligence, she became a nationally recognized speaker at tradeshow industry events.

In the late 1990’s as Della was investigating travel options to visit one of the family's former Spanish exchange students, she came upon a travel-oriented social network called FlyerTalk that focused on sharing travel deals. Della became an active member of the online community, building friendships with fellow travel-lovers all over the world. Joe and Della began making trips around the world, eventually gaining Million Miler status on United Airlines. In 2005, on a cruise to Alaska for Joe’s 45th high school reunion, they found they could dance every night on the ship, and their cruising career began. When on dry land, Della loved dancing with Joe as a member of Arcadian’s Dance Club and Lake City Elks. In 2013, she and Joe retired, enjoying the opportunity to dance the nights away on various ships and in exotic locations. On their 57th cruise they completed their final leg for circumnavigation of the globe by ship on New Year's Day of 2020 in Dubai, UAE.

Anyone who knows her can attest, whatever Della did, she did to the utmost with a flair all her own, never worrying for a second what anyone else might think. She leaves behind her loving family, countless friends, and a garden, all of whom dearly miss her sparkling, irrepressible presence. Her celebration of life will be held on Friday, November 7, 2025 at 11:00 am at St. Anne Catholic Church, 1411 1st Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119 with reception following in the parish hall. Those out of town can catch the livestream at: https://www.stanneseattle.org/livestream/