Dorothy R. Naas, 89, longtime resident of Oak Harbor, died May 5, 2005 at Regency on Whidbey.
Mrs. Naas was born Feb. 16, 1916 in Sultan to Samuel Howard Bayspoole Sr., and Muriel Dorothy (Campbell) Bayspoole. She graduated from Sultan High School. On Sept. 2, 1933, she married Ralph William Naas. They lived briefly in Seattle, Vantage, Grand Coulee, Hanford and Ephrata before moving to Oak Harbor in 1942. Dorothy was employed as a bookkeeper for Columbia Valley Lumber Co. until her retirement in the late 1950’s.
Dorothy and Ralph spent more than 30 years collecting botanical specimens for the National Park Service and other organizations. They received a special award for 20 years of volunteer work for the National Park Service, and North Cascades National Park dedicated the Naas Herbarium in their honor. Dorothy and Ralph were also the national winners of Take Pride in America in 1990, at a special presentation by the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. The Whidbey-Camano Land Trust named the 33-acre Bocker Preserve near Fort Casey as the Ralph and Dorothy Naas Natural Area Preserve in honor of the couple’s discovery of a rare species of golden paintbrush that grows there. Dorothy was a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church (now St. Stephen’s Anglican Church).
Dorothy is survived by her loving son, Robert Naas and wife Alice of Plano, Texas; two granddaughters, Muriel Naas Mason and husband Craig of Lincoln, Neb., and Martha Naas Smith and husband Ralph of Jackson, Miss.; three great-grandsons, Robert Alan Mason, Lawrence Edward Mason and Ralph William Smith. Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband Ralph William Naas in October 1991, by a brother, Samuel Howard Bayspoole, Jr., and by a sister, Margaret Bayspoole.
A memorial Eucharist will be held Monday, May 9, at 2 p.m. at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Pastor Carol Harlacher officiating. Memorials may be made to Whidbey Camano Land Trust, P.O. Box 1453, Langley, WA 98260; or the Nature Conservancy, 217 Pine St., Suite 1100, Seattle, 98101.
