The Daily Herald
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldnet
Barbara Willard died April 9, 2021 at the age of 87 in Florence Oregon. Barbara was born at Harborview Hospital in Seattle during the Great Depression. Those early economic circumstances helped shape her character. She was resilient, hard working and thrifty.
The familyundefineds fortune improved when her father got a job as a welder at Todd Shipyards during World War II. The family bought a home in Ballard near grandma Lucyundefineds boarding house. It was the happiest of timesundefinedbicycling to Rayundefineds Boathouse on Shilshole Bay and buying 10 cent tickets to the Bay Cinema.
Barbara and her brother Roy made life-long friends. Her best friend throughout life was Marilyn Olds Pantley. Marilyn and Roy preceded Barbara in death. After the war grandpa bought a strawberry farm in Granite Falls. There, Barbara, her brother and new little sister Linda were the farmundefineds laborers. After high school graduation she married local logger Vern Willard in 1951. They made a home, raised their children and built a successful business. In her 87 years she never lived more than 25 miles from salt water, except for a brief stint in the desert.
She taught her children to love the seashore, how to rake smelt and dig clams. Her last home was a cabin on the Siuslaw River within a mile of the ocean. In addition to her brother and many friends she was also preceded in death by her husband, Vern; her daughter, Lee; her parents; and her favorite dancing partner, Jack Charpentier of Snohomish.
She is survived by her son, Roy Willard and his wife Kathy of Granite Falls; her daughter, Ria Fransway and her husband Tom of Winnemucca, Nevada; her sister, Linda Weber and her husband Emil of Sequim; her grandchildren, Jamie Willard, Kevin Willard and Aurora Dawn Ralls, her nieces Laura Martin and her husband Bill and Amy Weber-Cantrell and her husband Mike.
She was a no-nonsense woman who lived life the way she wanted. She survived COVID quarantine to be visited the last week of her life by her children and talk to her sister. She died within 15 minutes of her son and granddaughterundefineds last visit. As in life, she died on her own terms.
In accordance with her wishes, her ashes will be scattered in the Siuslaw River on July Fourth.
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