It is with great sorrow we announce the passing of Belinda Kay (nee Cole) Friedrich on June 9th, 2023, at the age of 58 years, after a short but valiant battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Belinda was born on February 18th, 1965, to Charles Neil Cole and Betty June (nee Tatum) Cole in Orange, California, the fifth of six children and the youngest most precocious daughter. Due to her father’s job she got to live in variety of states, including West Jordan, Utah, where she attended West Jordan High School and eventually Klamath Falls, Oregon, where she met her husband Paul Benton Friedrich. They married August 23, 1986, and she would always laugh at Paul because he could never remember the date of their wedding.

Belinda began her own business out of her home, where she poured her heart and soul into caring for the elderly and the ill. She excelled at loving others, including her three children, Amber, Christine, and Daniel, who grew up alongside many of the residents their mother cared for. Because of this sense of giving and service that Belinda instilled in them, they too grew into careers caring for others.

Her family remembers her as a prankster. Together with her mother, Belinda tricked a young Daniel into believing there was a cougar just outside the front door, complete with sound effects! Daniel wouldn’t go outside in the dark again and Belinda and Betty laughed themselves into tears. Truly, her sense of humor was a light in her family’s life. Her childhood friend Brenda Holman recalls a water fight with Belinda at Brenda’s house, started by Brenda’s mother, that degenerated into a mud fight so spectacular that it is still the first thing that comes to Brenda’s mind to this day.

Towards the last few years of her life, Belinda's health deteriorated, and she moved into Lomond Peak Nursing and Rehabilitation in Ogden, Utah. There she could indulge in one of her favorite things – crafts! She particularly enjoyed crocheting and diamond painting, completing many projects, often while listening to her favorite country music.

Even after she became ill, Belinda still took care of others. She was known at Lomond for her generosity and her kindness, sharing anything and everything she had. We can only hope to embody that generosity in her memory, and through this, allow her to live on in us.

Belinda was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Neil Cole and Betty June (nee Tatum) Cole, and her sister Sherrie (nee Cole) Simpson.

Belinda is survived by her husband Paul Friedrich of Klamath Falls, Oregon, daughters Amber and Christine Friedrich of West Jordan, Utah, son Daniel Friedrich of Klamath Falls, Oregon, brothers Richard, Mark (wife Lesli), and Charles Cole (wife Danielle), sister Michelle (nee Cole, husband Richard) Smolik, all of Utah, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to extend their gratitude to Belinda’s daughters for their love and devotion to their mother.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date, with interment following at Bonanza Memorial Park Cemetery in Bonanza, Oregon.