TAXI OFF DUTY: October 2024

Rachelle LaVon Cohoon

Rachelle LaVon Cohoon of Silverdale, Kitsap County, Washington

April 5, 1919, to Oct. 18, 2014

Rachelle LaVon Cohoon was born April 5, 1919, to William and Maud Nelson in Absaraka, North Dakota. They later moved Amenia, like Absaraka an small village in Cass County near Fargo.

The Amenia school band, in which Rachelle played clarinet, was selected to march on North Dakota Day (Aug. 30, 1933) at the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago.

In 1935, she moved with her family to Washington state and graduated from high school at Yelm, Thurston, and was a member of the National Honor Society of Yelm High School.

On Oct. 11, 1938, in Kitsap County, Washington, Rachelle married Ellis Cohoon. Their marriage certificate says she was from Walla Walla, Washington, and she was from Douglas County, Minnesota. Their first home was in Tacoma.

During World War II, she and Ellis, a soldier, moved to California, Arizona, and New Jersey.

When Ellis was sent to England, Rachelle returned to Tacoma and lived the war years with her parents. At war's end, Ellis returned and they bought their first home in Lakewood, Pierce County, Washington, in suburban Tacoma.

In Lakewood she was active in PTA, taught Sunday school at the Little Church on the Prairie, assisted with Girl Scouts for her daughter Carolyn, was a den mother for her son John, and involved in other activities with her children.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the four Cohoons traveled across the country several times when Ellis was sent to electronics schools in New Jersey; Huntsville, Alabama; and Aberdeen, Maryland. During those trips, Rachelle made sure the family visited national historical sites including Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Gettysburg. They also toured the East Coast cities of New York, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.

In 1963, Ellis was transferred from Mount Rainier Ordnance Depot near Lakewood, Wash.to the Tooele Army Depot in Tooele, Utah. There Rachelle was active in the Methodist Church, serving as WSCS/Women’s Society of Christian Service president for two years.

She was an active band booster parent, raising money for her son John and the band to travel to the Pasadena Rose Parade in 1965.

In 1967, Ellis was transferred to the Metrology Lab at Keyport, Kitsap County, Wash. They have lived in the Silverdale area ever since.

In Silverdale, Rachelle was active in PTA. She completed a five-year Bible Study Fellowship Course. She took so many classes for personal enrichment at Olympic College in Bremerton that she earned an Associate Degree in Arts and Sciences.

Following Ellis' retirement in 1973, the couple became snowbirds, traveling to Arizona for many winters. Rachelle enjoyed listening to music, reading, playing cards with friends, and bird watching, a hobby she started as a Campfire Girl in North Dakota. Most of all she enjoyed celebrating special occasions with her family. She and Ellis celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary shortly before he passed away in 2011.

She died Oct. 18, 2014, Kitsap County, Washington.

She was predeceased by her sisters, Esther Froemming and Dorothy Erickson. She is survived by her daughter, Carolyn (Dave Peterson) and her son, John (Cathy Cohoon); her sister, Eloyce Jenks of Wisconsin, and a number of nieces and nephews.

At her request, memorial services will be private.

Original source/ Oct. 22, 2014 Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, Washington:

https://archive.kitsapsun.com/obituaries/rachelle-lavon-cohoon-95-ep-692940768-355200231.html

Editing/additional info added 10/9/2024

See THE COHOON FAMILY:

https://taxioffduty.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-cohoon-family.html

////////////

Ellis Ray Cohoon

Ellis Ray Cohoon of Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington

Jan. 11, 1916, to Nov. 23, 2011

Ellis Ray Cohoon, age 95 passed away on Nov. 23, 2011. He was born Jan. 11, 1916, to Walter and Grace Cohoon in Waitsburg, Walla Walla County, Washington. He attended schools in Walla Walla, Walla Walla County, Wash. and Ellensburg, Kittitas County, Wash.

In 1936, he enlisted in the 3rd Signal Company at Fort Lewis, Pierce County, Washington, hoping to study radio communications. Before World War II began, he was sent to Fort Ord, Marin County, California.

When World War II was declared with Germany and Japan, he was sent to Poston Japanese-American Internment Camp, located in Yuma County in southwestern Arizona. The company in which he served built a telephone line (about 215 miles) from that camp to Barstow, California. Later, he helped install phone lines along the newly constructed Alcan (Alaska-Canada) Highway. After that job, he transferred to the Eighth Air Force and spent the rest of the war in England.

At war's end, he returned to the U.S. on the ocean liner Queen Mary, converted then to a troopship. He received an honorable discharge from the Army and went to work in government civil service at Mt. Rainier Ordinance Depot near Lakewood (Pierce County)/Tacoma, Washington. (The depot served the U.S. Army between 1942 and 1963 as a primary vehicle-, arms-, and missile-repair facility. It provided ordnance equipment to the Pacific area and Alaska in World War II.)

During the 1950s and 1960s, he attended electronics training schools in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey; Huntsville, Alabama, and Aberdeen, Maryland. He also studied at Hewlett-Packard in California.

In 1963 he was transferred to the Metrology Lab at Tooele Ordinance Depot in Tooele, Tooele County, Utah. In 1967 he moved to the Metrology Lab at Keyport, Kitsap, Washington, and has lived in the Silverdale area ever since. He retired from government service in 1973.

Ellis enjoyed many hobbies, including woodworking, constructing electronics equipment from Heathkits and vegetable gardening. He built a scenic and computerized platform for his HO electric trains.

Ellis and his wife Rachelle recently celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. He is also survived by his daughter Carolyn Peterson (David) and son, John (Cathy). His sister, Lois Shelton (Kenny) of Walla Walla. We will dearly miss our loving husband and father.

Original source/Nov. 26, 2011 Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, Washington:

https://archive.kitsapsun.com/lifestyle/celebrations/ellis-ray-cohoon-95-ep-417979080-356992381.html

Also see:

https://postoninterneeobituaries.blogspot.com/2011/11/

Editing/additional info added 10/9/2024

See THE COHOON FAMILY:

https://taxioffduty.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-cohoon-family.html

Carolyn ‘Kibby’ LaVone Peterson

July 4, 1944 to Feb. 8, 2023

Carolyn LaVone Peterson, age 78, of Bremerton, WA, passed away peacefully Feb. 8, 2023, at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, Kitsap County, Washington, due to liver cancer and pulmonary complications.

She is survived by her husband, David W. Peterson, brother John Cohoon and his wife Cathy. Carolyn’s family, her many friends and acquaintances will miss her kind heart, friendliness, generosity, graciousness, teaching skills, and love of life.

Carolyn was born on the Fourth of July, 1944. Her father Ellis Cohoon was still in wartime England. Carolyn’s loving mother, Rachelle, brought Carolyn into the world at Tacoma General Hospital.

The family lived on 99^th Street in Lakewood, Pierce County, Washington, for many years, taking extended trips to live in New Jersey, Alabama, and Maryland where her father attended electronics schools.

Carolyn was known to many of the extended family members as Kibby. She and the family made frequent visits to Waitsburg, Washington, to see Grandpa and Grandma Cohoon. Grandpa and Grandma Alhstrom lived in Lakewood and were very close to Carolyn as she grew up.

Carolyn’s favorite pet as a child was a little black cocker spaniel named “Blackie” Later in life, for eighteen years, her orange cat “Buttons,” a British Shorthair, captured her heart forever.

Carolyn graduated from Clover Park High School (Lakewood, Pierce County, Washington) in 1962. She spent her freshman year (1962-63) of college at Pacific Lutheran University (Parkland, Pierce County, Wash.). In 1963, she moved with her family to Tooele, Utah, where her father’s job in the Civil Service had transferred him.

Carolyn enrolled at Utah State University in Logan, Utah and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in June 1966. She taught elementary school in Tooele for one year, but the family then moved back to Washington in 1967.

Carolyn married Mike Lilley on June 2, 1967, and went with him to San Diego where he was stationed in the Navy. Eventually she and Mike moved to Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington. They divorced January 18, 1979.

In Bremerton, Carolyne she lovingly taught second graders at Jackson Park Elementary in Bremerton, Kitsap County, Wash., for 33 years.

After her divorce, she met teacher Dave Peterson of Central Kitsap High School in Silverdale, Kitsap County, Wash. They married Aug. 15, 1992, built and moved into a wonderful Victorian home overlooking Hood Canal.

In August 2008, they downsized and moved into a condo in downtown Bremerton, overlooking Sinclair Inlet where she enjoyed watching the ferries, pleasure boats, Navy ships, eagles and ducks.

She liked going to watch the NFL Seahawks football team in the old Kingdome and cruising to Mexico, the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, and in the Mediterranean.

She enjoyed movies, book club, reading, political campaigns, counted cross stitch, lasagna, mac and cheese, a hot cup of tea, visiting friends, watching YouTube, and playing Words with Friends. Her favorite songs were “Brown Eyed Girl, “Old Time Rock & Roll”, and everything by Freddie Mercury and the band Queen.

Carolyn suffered a number of serious health issues throughout her adult life, beginning in 1972, when she contracted Hodgkin Disease. From that time going forward she suffered a number of other serious health challenges. She had wonderful doctors. She was a fighter and tried so hard to live. Carolyn was a loving wife and friendly to everyone she met.

She is remembered lovingly by her husband, brother, sister-in-law, relatives, and her many friends from school, the condo, and living a gracious life. And, by the many hundreds of school children in whose lives Carolyn played a major and positive role. She was the world’s best second-grade teacher.

Carolyn was a special, lovely lady who could find the best in everyone she met. Family and friends can gather Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 3 pm at the Hillcrest Columbarium in Forest Lawn Cemetery, located next to Lewis Funeral Chapel, Bremerton, Washington, to visit and remember Carolyn’s life as her ashes are placed near her parents on her mother’s birthday.

In lieu of flowers, remember her by acts of kindness to others and loving your family, friends, and every orange cat you see. And every Fourth of July think of Carolyn when you watch the beautiful fireworks.

“When he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.”

--William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Original source:

https://www.tuellmckee.com/obituaries?name=carolyn-lavone-peterson

Editing/additional info added 10/9/2024

See THE COHOON FAMILY:

https://taxioffduty.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-cohoon-family.html