Annabella Cochran passed away March 11, 2016, in Tampa, Fla., from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She was born Annabella Hilligoss on Oct. 8, 1927, in St. Paul, Minn., to Frank Clifton and Charlotte (Lottie) Minerva Moon Hilligoss.

She moved west with her family and settled in Bremerton, where she graduated from Bremerton High School in 1945.

After graduation, she went to work for Bell as a telephone operator and, soon after, met a young Navy sailor, George Cochran Jr., while he was stationed at the Bremerton Naval Shipyards.

They married in 1951 in Port Orchard. Eventually, the couple relocated to San Diego, Calif., Albuquerque, N.M., and Jacksonville, Fla., where they began raising their three children, Cathy, Curtis and Rene.

The family moved to Oak Harbor in 1958, where George retired after a 20-year Navy career. He then went to work selling cars for Maylor Ford.

He became a manager for the Ford garage and stayed in that position for over 20 years.

Annabella volunteered at schools and knew most of the kids in Oak Harbor.

She often had a driveway full of cars, with teens stopping in for her delicious fried chicken, or those who needed help with any kind of project, or some who just wanted to talk. She was a champion for kids.

George and Annabella were also charter members of the Oak Harbor Yacht Club and were pivotal in establishing the youth boating program. Annabella was an avid bowler, participating in the women’s leagues at Oak Bowl throughout the 60s and 70s.

Annabella and George toured the San Juan Islands by boat, rode motorcycles across the country, travelled internationally and drove a motor home across the country several times.

They toured most of the states and Mexico, eventually settling in Indio, Calif., where George passed away in 2003.

Annabella then moved to Tampa, Fla., to be near her daughter Cathy and her husband Bill Proses, settling in her own home just four doors down from Cathy and Bill.

Annabella delighted in riding her bike down to the local coffee hangout, The Grind, and even to the end she was cherished by The Grind staff, many of whom sat with her in her final hours.

Annabella was preceded in death by her husband George and is survived by her children, Cathy Cochran Proses (Bill), Curtis Cochran of Anacortes, and Rene Lange (Garr) of Chandler, Ariz. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Annabella Cochran had many friends, not only in the places where she lived, but in the many places where she made friends along the way in her vast and varied travels throughout the world.

In lieu of a memorial service, the family asks that she be remembered as a woman with an insatiable zest for life.

Contributions to your local hospice would have pleased Annabella.