As a kind and patient nurse, Amanda Lennick is remembered fondly by all she encountered, even as the wounds of losing her remain open.

Lennick, 31, whose parents were Flathead High School graduates, was one of dozens of people killed in a massive landslide near the town of Oso, Wash., on March 22.

In her honor, friends and family have started the Nursing Annual Scholarship at Washington State University, Tri Cities.

The college, Lennick’s alma mater, will award the scholarship to a nursing student with a history of community service.

Her parents, Jamie and Dennis Lennick of Kennewick, Wash., are 1971 Flathead High School graduates and have received much support from their former home for the loss of their community-minded daughter.

“Mandy was a strong, independent person with a heart of gold,” Jamie Lennick said.

Amanda was born in Washington’s Tri-Cities in 1983 but spent many summers in the Flathead with her grandparents and still has many family members in the area.

Her great-uncle, Losh Kusumoto, still lives in Kalispell and remembers a bright little girl.

“She was quite a nice young lady who was trying to get better educated,” he said.

Lennick had just closed on her new house in Oso a week before the nearby hillside came down. By all accounts, she was embarking on a new chapter when her life was cut tragically short.

When the mudslide hit, Lennick was at her home along with an electrician, plumber and satellite-dish technician who also were killed.

She had graduated from Washingston State University, Tri Cities in 2006 after volunteering in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and spending time as a medical missionary in Belize.

She had found a job as a nurse at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash. and had settled on her Oso home after six months of searching.

Lennick’s father, Dennis, was an all-state member of the 1970 football state champion Flathead Braves. Jamie was an honor society member as well as a Y-Teens and pep club member. The two married after high school and had two children: Amanda and her brother Matt.

Members of that 1971 Flathead High School class were instrumental in helping to set up the scholarship.

Tax-deductible donations can be made online at https://secure.wsu.edu/give/default.aspx?fund=2055 or by writing a check to: WSU College of Nursing, P.O. Box 1495, Spokane, WA 99210. Specify gifts are for the Amanda Lennick Memorial Scholarship.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.