Anna Kristine Eiselein (Blair) was born May 4, 1970, in Clarkston and taken home to the family farm near Leland by her parents John and Marga Blair. She passed away Tuesday, June 4, 2024, one month after her 54th birthday and six days after being diagnosed with advanced metastatic cancer.

As a child, Anna was active in 4-H, showing Charlais steers at the Nez Perce County Fair and loved playing sports, especially basketball, which she excelled at. Not even a broken arm kept her from competing in the annual Elks Hoop Shoot one year, the force was strong with young Anna.

Anna attended grade school in Juliaetta and junior high in Kendrick, before attending high school in Lapwai, where she played volleyball and was a starting point on the varsity basketball team as a freshman. As a senior, she blew out two discs in her back while diving after a loose ball. That injury would lead to the first of six back surgeries she had. She graduated from Lapwai High School in 1988.

After high school, Anna worked a variety of jobs including a stint as a server at Red Robin in the Tri-Cities and as a checker at Albertsons, then later at Tidyman’s. She loved working as a checker, it suited her outgoing, bubbly personality. Unfortunately, she injured her back again while trying to keep a bag of dog food from falling off of the belt on her check stand at Tidyman’s in Spokane, which ended her time as a checker. About the same time, she met her future husband, Kai Eiselein, the single father of a little red headed girl named Katie, through mutual friends.

After another surgery and recovery, she took classes to become a travel agent while living on the family farm. She and Kai dated “long distance” during this time, with each making frequent trips to see each other. After completing her studies, Anna landed her first job as a travel agent with the People to People program in Spokane, before working at a few different agencies in the area over the years. At the same time, she and Kai got serious and the couple married on Feb. 14, 1995, in Coeur d’Alene, and Anna became “Mom” to a 6-year-old Katie. Both Anna and Katie used to tell people that she fell in love with Katie first, so she was forced to take Kai as part of the deal.

The family moved to the Kendrick area in 1998 and Anna found her calling at Neely’s Travel Service, where she worked until the agency closed in 2017. She then worked as an outside agent from home for a couple of other agencies in the region, while still battling problems with her back and underwent four more back surgeries. Through it all, she nearly always had a smile on her face and her outgoing personality shone through and spending time with her grandchildren always lessened her pain.

After her last back surgery, Anna was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, an extremely painful condition for which there is no cure yet. Even so, Anna continued to partake in one of her favorite pastimes: traveling. Trips to New York, Seattle, Portland and Southern California were enjoyed in spite of the pain. Most recently, she made a road trip to southern Arizona, California and Oregon with her husband, grandson Aaron, and mother-in-law Jane Eiselein in August of last year. Anna loved warm weather and the ocean, so Hawai’i was a favorite destination, with Maui holding a special place in her heart. She also loved fishing and was always up for a day at Spring Valley.

Anna loved both Disney and Gonzaga (we’re not sure which was higher on her list) and she was always up for a trip to either Disneyland or the Kennel. She cheered on her Zags both from home and in person and the team consumed her life during basketball season, to the amusement of her family, who listened to her “coach” the team through the television. Some of her favorite phrases were, “Box out!,” “He’s working for it, give him the ball!,” “Slow down and think!” and “Great job, boys!”

Anna helped coach daughter Katie’s AAU basketball team for several seasons, and coached grandson Aaron’s rec league team later.

Anna was active with Moscow’s Distinguished Young Women program for several years, where she used her crafting skills to design and make decorations for the program each year. She also volunteered to be a mock judge to give the young ladies experience and feedback before the actual program, and was a judge at the St. Maries program one year, which took place over the course of two nights because of the large number of girls taking part.

In search of health information, Anna found and contacted her birth mother and gained another sister and brother in the process, becoming close with all of them.

Anna was preceded in death by her parents, John and Marga Blair, daughter Katie Ripley (Eiselein) and birth mother Maureen Knudson.

Surviving at the family home in Moscow are her husband of 29 years, Kai Eiselein and grandson, Aaron Eiselein Thornberry.

She is also survived by brother Robert Blair (Rhonda), of Kendrick, brother Christopher Blair, of Carlsbad, N.M., sister Heather Borman (Scott), of Kent, Wash., brother Paul Garrett, of Sumner, Wash., granddaughter Amelia Ripley, nephews Dillon and Logan Blair and Riley Borman, nieces Rose Blair and Olivia Borman, along with several other extended family members.

The family would like to extend their thanks to the staff at Gritman Medical Center for their kindness, compassion and caring professionalism during this devastating diagnosis.

A celebration of life for Anna will take place from noon to 2 p.m., Saturday, July 20, at the 1912 Center, 412 E. Third St., Moscow, bring your stories, photos and memories.

An lunch entree’ will be provided, please bring a salad, a side or a dessert to share, if you wish.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with expenses at: bit.ly/4bvABWH.

Cancer destroys families, please get a colonoscopy when your doctor recommends it.