Liana Joane Bivoino

Liana Joane Bivoino was born on March 30, 1944, and fell asleep in the Lord on Pascha, April 15, 2012, after a long battle with cancer.

Born to Hilda and Otto Schmidt, in New York, NY. Survived by her husband George, her sister Linda Messer and family, and also survived by  her three children; daughter Desiree Finch, Jeffery Coleman, wife Gina, and daughter Marnie Coleman. Her grand children are Ryan, Kyle and Brandon Finch, Kaya and Kaleb Coleman , children of Marnie, and great grandson Mason, of Ryan Finch. Liana also cared for 16 foster children over a four year period.

Beside family, Liana had two main loves in her life, the love of her church community, and the love of dance; she was passionate about both. She danced semi-professionally, performing The Nutcracker with the Toledo symphony for five years, and taught dance at the Freemont Ballet school in Ohio and at the High School level in Salem, Oregon.

Her Orthodox faith was very important to her, helping her endure many life challenges and changes. While she was involved with St. Spiridon, St. Demetrios , Holy Apostles, and  St. Nicholas, all within the Seattle Eastern Orthodox community, it was the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption in Seattle  where she held her  membership. All were family to her.

Her favorite job was more like a ministry to her, which is when she worked at Fred Lind Manor, an assisted living retirement center, as their activity director. She was humbled to, and loved being an instrument of joy and meaning to someone at the end of their life. She saw it as a sacred privilege. She was also grateful and appreciative of the many people, friends and families who provided the same to her at the end of her own life.