Catherine Pack of Langley, Wash. passed after a long illness on April 23, 2019. Known to her friends and family as “Dolly,” she was born on June 3, 1929 in the rural crossroads community of Grangebellew, County Louth, Ireland to Lawrence and Catherine Campbell.

She was the youngest of two brothers and two sisters. She was 12 when her mother passed in 1941. Her father was a quiet man who worked all his life on the railroad. Still attending school, she also worked at odd jobs near home.

But, in 1945, at age 16, Dolly went to live with her Aunt May Joyce and four cousins in Liverpool, where there was a better chance of employment in England. While working in Liverpool for a company that made nylon stockings, she met her first husband, William Miller in 1948, who was a U.S. soldier. They married in Liverpool the following year and left for the U.S. in the fall of 1949. They lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., for three years where their daughter, Lynne, was born in 1950.

In 1952, after William was discharged, they drove across country to San Diego, Calif., where Gary was born in 1955.

In 1957, William fell ill and passed away.

In 1965, Dolly was working at Walker-Scott Department Store in Lemon Grove, Calif., when she met Carlie Rich Pack at a local country-western roadhouse. They started dating and were married five months later. Their son Patrick was born the next year in 1966.

After living in California for a few years, Rich got stationed in Japan, where the family lived from 1968 to 1971. Dolly always loved travelling, and especially enjoyed her time in Japan where they made lots of close friends.

While stationed in central California in 1980, Dolly completed citizenship requirements and took the U.S. oath of allegiance in Fresno, Calif.

Since Rich’s retirement from the Navy in 1990, they made a trip to Ireland in 2008 where Rich finally got to see where Dolly grew up.

They also visited New Zealand and made a second trip to England and Ireland. Dolly and Rich also attended 13 different Navy reunions in various locations around the U.S.

They made multiple trips and tours to different national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite.

As a longtime resident of Whidbey Island of more than 35 years, Dolly is survived by her loving husband of almost 54 years, Carlie Rich Pack; three children, daughter, Lynne Rich, and sons, Gary Miller and Patrick Pack; and four grandchildren, Jennifer Rich, Justin Rich, Carlie Pack and Jacob Miller.

While Dolly was an avid bowler and baseball fan who also loved gardening and drinking tea, she was more importantly known by her friends and family as a tremendous person, wife, mother and grandmother. She was caring and a great listener known for guiding her children and grandchildren with good advice.

She will be remembered for so many outstanding qualities, and greatly missed by those who knew and loved her.

In accordance with her wishes no service was held and in lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the American Cancer Society.