Christi J Ruscigno

Christi Ruscigno was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, the middle child of five. She attended Saint Matthews Catholic School through eighth grade and graduated from Nathan Hale High School in 1968. She married young and, in December of 1969, welcomed twin daughters. The family moved to Whidbey Island in 1973, shortly after the birth of a third daughter. When her marriage ended, she raised her daughters on her own and, in 1978, built a house on a family lot in Scatchet Head located in Clinton, Washington, where she lived until her passing on October 12, 2024.

In 1980, Christi opened and operated Angelina's Café and Bakery for 4 years. After that, she enrolled at Skagit Valley Community College, graduating in 1986. She received a B.A in English at the University of Washington in 1989 and went on to earn an MS in Technical Communications in 1991. After graduate school, Christi worked at several start-ups as a Technical Writer. She eventually took a position as Senior Instructional Designer in Online Learning at UW Educational Outreach where she worked until retiring in 2016.

Much of her other spare time over the years was devoted to reading and writing. As a child, she spent hours pedaling her bike to the Lake City Library, returning with so many books the bike fairly wobbled along. She kept a journal for years, which later spun off into writing short stories, mostly for children, an (unpublished) novel, and a plethora of poetry. Eventually, her love of reading turned into starting a book group (South Whidbey Read and Feed) which celebrated 30 years in 2024. The ten women in this group, next to her daughters, were some of the most important people in her life.

Once her children were grown, Christi got the travel bug and toured Europe several times, visiting Paris, Dijon, Rouen, Rome, Venice, Naples, Madrid, Seville, Granada, Toledo, Vienna, and Prague. She has also been to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Tanzania, Venezuela, Mazatlán, Montreal, and Quebec.

Christi was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer in 2015. She lived a good life with treatment for 8+ years. Christi’s adventures in this life ended on October 12, 2024 when she moved on to the next one. She is remembered by her three daughters, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, her sister and brother and two nieces, as well as many life-long friends who celebrated whenever and whatever they could, to support each other in good times and bad, eat well, laugh long and hard, and most importantly, show up when showing up was necessary and warranted.