Windishar, Lena

01/11/1932 ~ 09/05/2025

Lena Windishar's seven children rarely had a conversation with friends that didn't quickly shift to, "How is your mom doing?"

We are equal parts heartsick and happy to report she is doing just fine, greeting friends and much of her family in heaven after dying at the age of 93 on September 5, 2025.

Lena Zampetti started her journey in the world when her father and his pregnant wife boarded the MS Augustus, traveling from Naples to New York. She was born to Luigia and Virgilio Zampetti on Jan. 11, 1932, in Sprague, Washington. Her brother was born two years later and the family figured out American life throughout rail towns between Ritzville and Connell before moving to Spokane. They lived blocks from Gonzaga College, where Lena helped her mother learn English, gardened with her dad, played the piano and made lifelong friends at St. Aloysius grade school, Holy Names High School and Holy Names College.

She met Frank Windishar at a dance in college and they were instantly devoted, exchanging weekly letters when Frank was deployed to Korea. They married after his return and graduation from Gonzaga, eventually buying a house on East Augusta. They raised their big family on Frank's teacher salary and Lena's ingenuity.

It would be hard to overstate how hard Lena worked. She raised seven children, each with different personalities and interests. She ran a home where everyone's needs were met - creating opportunities through music and sports, theater and scouts. She valued creativity (re-inventing the Happy Birthday song); delighted in wry humor but not puns. She and Frank danced in the living room and taught their kids how to, too. Everyone knew her, and she walked home from the grocery store with news from the box boy about the neighborhood. She would buy a snack for herself (always salty/crunchy) and stash it away, probably the only time she snuck a treat. She valued and kept her childhood friends and never stopped taking care of her parents, teaching her children how to show up for family and anyone else. She gave you a cup of tea and her full attention in the kitchen, as if what you were telling her was the most important thing in the world.

Lena also worked outside the home, at Sacred Heart Hospital as a med tech, on election boards and in her children's schools. She volunteered for everything, and kept things running at the Altar Society for St. Als church. She loved her grandchildren, and met each of them exactly where they were.

Lena spent the last four years in and out of hospice care. She would fail, then come raring back. Seriously, does anyone get kicked out of hospice? Lena did, three times.

She would be aghast at this tribute, but she deserves every word. There's no way to fully describe the force who was Lena Zampetti Windishar, but maybe one of her catch-phrases comes close. "Unreal."

Lena joins her husband Frank in heaven, where they celebrate their 71st wedding anniversary this month. Marking the occasion with them are her parents Lu and Vic, her brother Benny Zampetti, her sons Tom and Jerry, son-in-law Larry and her grandson Keith. She is survived by her daughters and their families: Mary with Scott and Erin Nickell (James); Daughter-in-law Debra with Crystal (Rob) and Adam (Stacy); Tynna with Morgan (Kyrsten), Spencer and Garett Jones; Kathleen with Benjamin Windishar-Tatham; Anne (Jess) with Brooklyn (Miky), Ava and Alec Walter; and Melinda Windishar. She was deeply proud of her great-grandchildren: Madelina Windishar and Henry, Gwendolyn and Audrey Jones. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Jo Anne Zampetti and the Zampetti family in California.

The family would like to thank the staffs at Horizon Hospice, Hospice of Spokane, Riverview Retirement Center and, especially, the dear people who run and live at Kimberly's Cottage, where Lena spent her final years.

Please consider a donation to the Wishing Star Foundation, or any school music or theater program in Lena's name. Her funeral service will be Saturday, September 20th at 11am at Assumption Catholic Church, 3624 W. Indian Trail Rd, followed by a reception in the parish hall. There will be salty snacks. Online memorial page can be found at www.holycrossofspokane.org