October 6th, 1989 – February 1st, 2025

Chelsea was born in Anchorage, Alaska on October 6th, 1989. After a short stay in Anchorage with Grandma, the family returned to Delta Junction, Alaska where they were living at the time. While both parents worked delivering the US Mail locally and to the surrounding towns, Chelsea spent her first 6 months living with below 0 temperatures, record snowfalls, and cold rides to daycare. She was a little ray of sunshine in a cold and dark winter, always smiling and giggling! In 1990, the family moved to Kenai, Alaska where her father went to work on the oil platforms in Cook Inlet. She enjoyed watching Disney movies, doing puzzles, playing with her huge pile of stuffed animals, and spending time with her big brother, Josh.

In 1994, they moved to Wasilla, Alaska and lived in a 10×32 cabin on her grandparents property. Although it was small, it was cozy and Chelsea and her mom and dad enjoyed the time spent together. The next 2 years were spent helping her grandparents clear their land and start building their house, with her supervising it all! In 1996, they relocated to Trapper Creek, Alaska where they lived the remote lifestyle of wood stoves, generators, outhouses, and hauling water and firewood. Her favorite activities were fishing and gold panning with her daddy, gardening and crafting with her mom, and playing with her friends and pets. It was here that she developed her lifelong love of Pokemon, with Pikachu being her favorite. She attended a small rural school where she enjoyed reading, writing, choir, and time spent with friends. She loved the area she lived in with the views of Denali and the frequent sightings of moose, bears, beaver, eagles, etc… and developed a forever love of wildlife.

In 2000, they moved back to Wasilla where Chelsea was thrilled to live in a place with an “in-house outhouse”. She attended Colony Middle School in Wasilla and Palmer High School in Palmer, Alaska and was active in choir at both. She loved helping people and was lovingly referred to as “Mama Chelsea” because of her big heart and desire to fix everything! She loved wolves, stuffed animals, and anything Pokemon and enjoyed swimming, writing short stories and poems, and spending time with family and friends. Her favorite pastime was going to see her grandma Toni and grampy Dave and many wonderful hours were spent at their house helping with the gardens, picking strawberries and raspberries, and generally just being a kid. She spent many years helping Gram as a volunteer at the Alaska State Fair and later became an employee there. She really loved being with family and relished every moment she got to spend with her grandparents, her big brother, Josh, her cousin, Jake, and her Auntie Cinde and Uncle Klarantz.

In 2010, she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with her mom and dad. Having never left Alaska before, she spent the next 7 years learning how to live in the “Lower 48” and loving the fact that the temperature never dropped below 0!! She worked at various retail jobs such as Skechers and Champion and met a lot of lasting, forever friends. In 2017, she set out on her own and moved to Saint Louis, Missouri and proceeded to make a life for herself there. She worked retail there as well at Walmart, Elecia’s Pizza, and Auto Zone. While at Auto Zone she developed an interest in cars and in 2021, she enrolled in Rankin Technical College and took the necessary classes needed to become a mechanic. She continued to work at Auto Zone, as well as a number of small auto/tire shops until she finally worked her way up to an assistant manager position with Advance Auto. She worked very hard to get ahead in life and was extremely proud of her achievements. She loved to cook and bake and spoiled all with her cookies every chance she got. Pokemon, wolves, art and writing remained her favorite hobbies. In the middle of all this, she still managed to meet the love of her life, Ryan Rupert. They met as co-workers at Elecia’s Pizza in 2019 and were married on February 3rd, 2023. They had an extremely happy marriage and were the best of friends. They lived a life of love and dreams, always making plans for the future. They shared a love of travel, friends, mechanics, shopping, fun, and laughter and had many good times together. Chelsea had the kindest heart and the most marvelous personality and loved everybody. Her beautiful smile and infectious laughter will be remembered and missed forever by all that knew her.

She was pre-deceased by her grandparents, Antoinette (Toni) Kleewein and David Schacht, and her uncle Klarantz (Terry Wear). She is survived by her husband, Ryan Rupert, her father, Donald Hodge, her mother, Victoria Stamm, her brother, Joshua Mesch, his lady, Dawn and their children, Xavier, Zjimken, Jeanette, and Joshua, her Auntie Cinde Stamm-Wear, her cousin, Jacob Stamm and his children, Belle, Serenity, and August, her uncle, Kevin Stamm, his wife, Sharla, her cousin, Zach Stamm, his wife, Lindsey, and their daughters Delaney and Sage, and her cousin, Jasmine Lombardi, her husband, Jared, and their daughter, Avery. As well as her paternal grandparents, David and Lorraine Strausser, her Aunt Diane Phillips and her husband, Robert, her cousin Kirsten Sobie and her husband Jason, and son Jayden, cousin Stephen Phillips and his family. There is no way to describe the love Chelsea had for her family and friends and absolutely no words to express the love we had for her and the pain we feel at her loss. She will be deeply missed forever by all who knew her!!!

To our beautiful daughter:
You were the sunshine in our life ,Chelsea, and we loved you more than you could ever know. You were an  awesome, beautiful person and we are sooo proud of you!!!
You were taken from us entirely too early, but you will be with us in our hearts and thoughts every minute of every day forever…
REST EASY, BABY GIRL…
   WE LOVE YOU!!!