Vespula atropilosa - matches description and display of female abdomen at Discover Life.

Thanks. Since I posted those pictures, I did some more looking at images on the internet, and found a nice match of the marking pattern to a Western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica. (but I'm just a beginner at this).
It was walking on the floor of my garage this morning. I put it outside to take the pictures, and within an hour it just curled up and died. Must have been sick or old age. I didn't hurt it.

Because a reproductive female who has just overwintered is not yet in her old age.
Such sensitivity, either to pesticides or infectious pathogens, could explain why this species is so rarely encountered. With the death of this wannabe foundress, that means one more colony will never exist.
The good news is that your pics are excellent, showing well the features of V. atropilosa versus very similar (and much commoner) V. pensylvanica.
Now, you or somebody with editor status will have to put these images in their right place (a title is already waiting for them under genus Vespula).

complete

vespula pennsylvanica was my first thought when i saw it... but it seems Mr. Eaton is right!(great job!) from my knowledge, the prairie yellowjacket is not well known at all. the western yellowjacket would have less broad yellow patches on the shoulder, a slightly different yellow pattern on the rear of the thorax, and a somewhat different marking on the first abdomen segment. the two do look similar though, and on first glance i probably would have miss IDed it as a western yellowjacket

well she is a spring queen, so she did not die of old age. she might have had a parasite or something. or maybe it got cold and she just went into an inactive state

still an expert needs to confirm... if the ID is correct then congrats on getting these good images of this species!