Mary Genevieve (Myrick) Berkley

Mary Genevieve (Myrick) Berkley, 86, passed away on May 26, 2009, in Oak Harbor.

Mary was born in 1922 in Spokane, to Harold Eugene Myrick and Georgiebelle (Todd) Myrick. Mary, a lifelong resident of Washington State (except for a few months in the early 1950s) lived in Oak Harbor since 1961, where she maintained hearth and home.

She moved to Oak Harbor from Mount Vernon after marring David W. Walters, ADJC, USN and was widowed in 1965. Mary and David had been preparing for his retirement from the Navy by opening and operating a small engine repair, locksmith and saw sharpening shop on Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor before David’s untimely death at the age of 37.

Mary and Charles E. (Berk) Berkley, AMHC, USN RET, were married in Oak Harbor in 1966 and they celebrated their 42nd anniversary in 2008.

While raising her family, Mary worked as a sandwich shop owner with her husband Dean Rhodes, waitress, retail credit and billing clerk and seamstress. Mary last worked outside the home as a tax preparer for H&R Block from 1978 to 1981.

Mary is survived by her husband, Charles; daughter, Patricia Ann (Coldwell) Halliday and her husband, Lyle Halliday; sons Ishmael Israel (Robert G. Coldwell) and H. Dean Rhodes and his wife Diana (Taliaferro) Rhodes; nieces, nephews and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents; husband, David W. Walters; brother, Victor E. Myrick; sister, Mildred A.J. (Myrick) Fuge; and grandson, David W. Watson.