Tamara Colette Rehwalt

Tammy Rehwalt crossed the heavenly veil on February 5, 2026. She was surrounded by her precious family throughout her life and so it was fitting that she be surrounded by her family in her final days. Those final days were a reflection of her life, a room filled with love, laughter, tears, food and games. On Thursday, Tammy won the prize we all seek, to join her Lord and Savior, to join her loved ones that went before her and to help prepare a place for the loved ones that will join her for eternity in the bliss of heaven.

Heaven is now a better place with Tammy in it. Her amazing smile, laugh, attitude and hugs will now make the stars shine a little brighter, the sunlight feel that much better and the angels’ chorus be strengthened with her voice. Tammy started her earthbound journey in 1966 by being blessed to be put up for adoption and the John Lutz family being captivated by her and having her become part of their family (there was a vote!) where she was raised in a home and family filled with love, faith and song. Tammy was preceded on her journey to heaven by her mother and father, John and Shirley Lutz and her brother Bruce Lutz. Tammy is survived by her husband Ron, their children; Zack, Leisha, Conner, Grady and grandchildren, Bryten and Kinlee.

Tammy was a person with a perpetual smile and positive attitude. She was also a gifted vocalist who blessed the congregation with numerous Christmas Cantatas, as well as athlete and played the game of softball like it was invented specifically for her. She could hit, catch and throw better than almost anyone in her age group, regardless of male or female. Besides softball, she loved all sports and played volleyball and basketball through high school. She would continue to play softball throughout her life, in her later years after marrying her high school sweetheart, Ron Rehwalt, on various co-ed softball teams. In Utah, where the family lived for 10 years, the game of softball was a way to gather other young couples/families from the church of Grace Lutheran in Sandy, Utah or their neighborhood to many a BBQ at their home after games. Their house was often filled with friends, food and age-appropriate beverages! With a family of four kids and both Tammy and Ron playing in games, it was a constant challenge to try to keep the young kids off the field and to ensure the older two kids were watching the younger two. There may have been a trip or two to the ER during or after games, one of the most memorable being not from a softball injury bur from the oldest son jumping from picnic table to picnic table and missing a landing by that much and doing a face plant on the edge of said picnic tables. Needless to say, after the infamous picnic table event, our kids stayed home during all of our games.

Tammy always wanted to be a Registered Nurse, which perfectly tracked with her personality, kind heart and desire to help people. She didn’t want to be just ‘any’ nurse but a Labor & Delivery nurse where she could help mothers and families bring little bundles of miraculous joy into their lives. She graduated from BSU’s nursing program in May of 1987 and get a job at St. Lukes in Boise in their Labor & Delivery department, putting in place the one requirement that she and Ron had – for one of them to have graduated college and have a full-time job before they could get married. A similar requirement was in place to have both graduated and with full time jobs before having children. They achieved that goal with 7 weeks to spare.

Her co-workers became some of her closest friends and would get great joy out of sharing ‘birthing process’ stories to Ron and their husbands (by process I mean fluids, and other gross things that happen…). She would continue with nursing when the family moved to Utah in 1996 and until 2005 when the family moved back to Idaho from their stay in Utah.

While she absolutely enjoyed being a L&D nurse and loved being a wife, she absolutely adored being a mother and eagerly looked forward to being a grandmother someday. The birth of each child was a tremendous gift as all were born healthy, if a bit on the big side. Tammy was adamant it was Ron’s fault the kids were so big, being a 10lb+ baby himself (with love in her heart…after the births, long after the births…). Tammy was each child’s biggest support in life and #1 cheerleader in any activity, from band/choir to soccer, basketball, softball, football, volleyball, lacrosse. The kids could always hear their mom yelling words of encouragement to them. While on expat assignments she got to share her enthusiasm and support for her kids, whether joining them on field trips to Japanese rice fields during planting time (maybe something to do with her farming roots???), school field days, attending basketball, soccer, volleyball games in places like Tokyo Japan, Shanghai China, Soeul South Korea. She yelled with the same enthusiasm as watching the games in Sandy Utah, Salt Lake Utah, Draper Utah, Pocatello Idaho, Boise Idaho, Meridian Idaho – wherever her kids were in the world, she was there to support them. Tammy was so very happy that her children got to experience other cultures and live/travel to other countries, expanding their knowledge, understanding and tolerance of others’ views, religions, and perspectives.

With both Tammy and Ron being born and raised in Idaho, neither of them would be considered world travelers at the time. That changed in 1993 when they increased their credit card limits to buy tickets to Germany to stay with Ron’s sister (Paula) before she left Germany where she was stationed with the US Air Force. They drove many thousands of miles in three weeks around Europe. They made stops throughout Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland. They were able to hike to an Alpine glacier, hike through a meadow of wildflowers that reminded them of a scene from “The Sound of Music”, jump off of a perfectly good Swiss Alp to do paragliding, which was one of the most thrilling things – EVER! The happy couple bought a timeshare in Cancun (yes, they got sucked in…) but it turned out to be one of their favorite places on earth, where they would go to recharge themselves and have a warm, sand filled vacation – sans kids. Tammy and Ron almost moved to Japan in 1999 on an expat assignment through Ron’s work but they didn’t actually move there until 2006 where the family lived for two years. If you were to have asked either of them, Japan would be described as their second home. The experience was fantastic and life changing for the family. Tammy and family would follow Ron on one more expat assignment to China in 2010, this assignment was for just one year. During this time, the family was able to visit many places in Japan and China, including the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Kyoto and Tokyo and dozens of others. There were Christmas’ spent in Australia and Thailand. Summers back home to spend with her family. Just for the record, Tammy’s mom was NOT a fan of Ron taking her and her grandkids away from her for years at a time but the trips back in the summertime made it ‘somewhat’ tolerable for her.

Throughout her life, Tammy and Ron stayed close with Tammy’s best friend Kris Fuchs (now Edge), known to the kids as Auntie Kris. Kris is one of the few people (outside of Tammy’s family) who has loved and cherished Tammy for longer than Ron has. Kris also went into nursing and ended up working and living in Washington. She married and had children that were the same ages as Tammy and Ron’s younger kids. This led to a lifelong shared yearly summer vacation with the Rehwalt’s and the Edge’s (Kris and Bernie). These summer trips usually involved river rafting, sand dune buggy adventures and outdoor activities of one sort or another. Ask about incidents of mud wrestling that would occur between the two – all out of love! This is another example of the love and caring that Tammy would share with people. When you were a friend, you stayed a friend. Even being far away, Kris and family would stop by and see Tammy many times throughout the years after her diagnosis and her inability to travel. While some would call Kris a friend, she (and her family) have been family to Tammy from the third grade.

Family was always very important to Tammy. Even as Huntington’s Disease started eroding her abilities and Ron was still having to travel for work, Ron’s sisters (Paula, Karen, Debbie, Cheryl) and Tammy’s sister Sonya would volunteer to help with Tammy while Ron was away. These acts of love meant so much to Tammy and Ron. During the years before she went into assisted living, the kids would all pitch in and help their mother. Hanging out with her during the days to ensure she had company, help with food, drink or any other needs before, during and after the home nurses were there and before Ron got home from work. Her kids were amazing in the love and care they showed their mom. A family should always tell each other, “I love you” and that phrase was uttered countless times during the days and over the years in the Rehwalt household. Nobody in Tammy’s life had any doubt that she loved them and cared for them and would do anything for them, even if it was ‘only’ prayers towards the end of her life. If a person had a cough, sore muscle, was sad, whatever the situation, Tammy would ALWAYS ask what she could do, how they were feeling on follow-up visits with her and her focus was always on other people. Tammy was an INCREDIBLE soul. She never complained about her disease or asked, “why me,” - ever! She took it as part of God’s plan and kept a smile on her face and love in her heart. Everyone that helped with Tammy in her last years in long-term care loved her as a person, and as a patient. She was always positive, always smiling, always helpful. One of the care givers told the story that in her first days on the job, the care giver didn’t know how to operate the machine that would help get Tammy out of bed, into her wheelchair and then back again. Tammy, always the loving nurse, talked her through how to operate it and that has stuck with the care giver all these years. An example that her spunk stayed with her even after the diagnosis was during a group activity at the facility, one of the residents was a little over zealous with the Activities Director during an activity and Tammy looked at the person and stated in that ‘mom’ voice, “You need to apologize to her, that wasn’t nice!” Trust in Tammy to ensure people around her were respectful to everybody. The love and caring the staff had for her was evident as Tammy was leaving the facility for the last time, they all came out in the cold and lined up to pay their respects to Tammy, what a precious sendoff that was!

Tammy’s pillars of life were based on the five “F’s”: Faith, Family, Friends, Food and Football! She loved her Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ with all her heart; loved, cared and supported her family in a way few could ever hope to match, would do anything for her friends; would use food to bring people together and was passionate about her alma mater BSU Football and gave Ron a run for his money on her support and knowledge of the Denver Broncos. All the kids got to travel with Tammy and Ron to at least one game in Denver, to watch the Broncos play and be victorious. Watching football was an activity she could do up to her last days with her family. She watched numerous games this year and both playoff games this year. Even though we won’t be able to give Tammy a high five, knuckles or a hug during games in the coming years, we will still be able to think of her and yell “Toodles” which was a way we would be able to celebrate with her if she couldn’t do a high five.

Tammy came from a family where she had a lot of nieces and nephews. She enjoyed being a part of their lives, whether helping her mom and dad at their cabin when they were hosting all the grandkids for a week during the summer or going to their high school games, weddings, baptism of their kids, her siblings’ anniversary parties, whatever the event, she would make time to be involved in her extended family’s lives. Up until her diagnosis it would be hard to find an extended Lutz family photo without Tammy somewhere in it. Both Tammy and Ron’s parents set a magnificent example for their kids in so many ways. Both sets of parents made it past their 50th wedding anniversary. Tammy and Ron had planned on hitting their 50th year anniversary (August 1, 2037). Alas, Tammy and Ron only made it to 38 years together. Tammy - the wife, the mother, the grandmother, the sibling, the aunt, the friend, the person, will be greatly missed and while we celebrate that she is in heaven, free of the disease that entrapped her for the last fifteen years, we have heavy hearts that she only remains with us in spirit. As we navigate a life without her in it, it can be summed up by the following statement for today and all the days going forward: “Sometimes my memories of you sneak out of my eyes & roll down my cheeks” … we love you Tammy/Mom/Grandma, now and forever!

The family would like to send off Tammy to her final goodnight until she rises with the Lord again by saying the family prayers they would say every night. If so moved, please join us:

“Now I lay me down to sleep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, this I ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen, Abba”

“Blessed Saviour dear, be always near. Keep me from evil, harm and fear. Amen, Abba”

“Lord, please watch over and protect me from all unknown and see me safely through ‘til morning. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen, Abba”

“Mommy loves you; Daddy loves you, Leisha, Zachary, Conner and Grady loves you. Grandpa and Grandma loves you, Grammy and Pappo loves you and Jesus loves you.”

“Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.