Darcy Lee Welker

Darcy Lee Welker, 41, of Prineville, died Sunday, October 28, after a long and brave struggle with depression. She was born on July 13, 1977, at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Prineville to Dave Welker and Marcy Quant.

A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, November 10, at 3 p.m. at Prineville Funeral Home, with a gathering to follow at the home of Craig and Lucy Woodward, Darcy’s aunt and uncle.

Darcy was loved by everyone who met her, especially her friends and family. She made new friends everywhere, including in the various jobs she had throughout her life, in Prineville and Puyallup, Washington, and in communities she embraced online.

Darcy was working as a transcriptionist for Amazon and other companies when she died.

Darcy was smart and talented at everything she tried. As a child, she won the spelling bee, starred in school plays, and was a voracious reader. She was the sweetest child, and made friends with everyone. She and her sister, who called her “Honey,” were inseparable.

In 1994, Darcy had her first child at age 16, Jessie DeAnn Welker, who made her a mother and changed her life. Despite the obstacles of being a mom and a student, Darcy finished high school, graduating with her class in 1995.

In 2000, she had her second daughter, Shelby Rose Nichols, whom she has the highest hopes and dreams for. We all know she will be so proud when Shelby graduates high school this spring and starts college next fall.

In 2005, she gave birth to her son, Trace Warren Skellett, always her precious baby. She and Trace shared a love of games, including softball, baseball, and Pokémon, which they loved to play together.

She attended Pierce College in Puyallup, in the early 2000s, earning 90 credits — halfway to a bachelor’s degree. She had recently started playing softball again, on the Headbangers softball team in Prineville, where she had made many new and loving friends.

She loved working at the Symbiosis Eclipse Gathering last summer at Big Summit Prairie, and was working on a goal plan that included going back to work outside of the home and finding a winter activity to fill the void of softball. In her plan, she described herself as we also would: resilient, resourceful, strong, and assertive. She wrote that her inspirations included people who are oppressed and softball. She loved art, including tattoos, music (especially Trent Reznor), television, and coloring. She continued to be an avid reader her entire life. Everyone she knew — and even some people she didn’t — would ask her for book recommendations.

In recent years, she had gotten involved with the Prineville “rocks” group and loved finding painted rocks, and painting and hiding rocks for others to find. We know she would love to have rocks painted and left somewhere in her honor. Please join “Darcy’s Rocks” on Facebook to share the rocks you paint or find.

She was a caring and passionate human, friend, mother, daughter, sister, and partner. She will be loved and missed forever.

Darcy is survived by her three children, Jessie, Shelby, and Trace; her partner of more than 14 years, Ryan Skellett; her mother and stepfather, Marcia and Teddy Gascon; her father, David Welker; her sister, DeAnn Welker (and husband Nolan Lewis), and Darcy’s three nieces, Lincoln, Inara, and Willa Lewis; her half-brother and half-sister, Montie and Dawn Welker; her “sister” Leigh Apperson; her aunts, uncles, and cousins; countless friends; and her pets, including her bird, Paco, and her beloved dog, Barney.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Shirley Quant, Margaret (Sumner) Quant, Sherman Welker, and Mary (Calkins) Welker Dragich; and a baby boy she gave birth to in 1999 who was born prematurely and lived less than an hour.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a fund for Darcy’s children at any U.S. Bank branch, using account number 253658855502; or to Project Semicolon, a suicide prevention organization.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Darcy Lee Welker, please visit our floral store.