June J. Crawford, age 98, died November 18, 2014 at HomePlace Memory Care, Oak Harbor. She was born June 8, 1916 in Capper, Oklahoma, one of nine children. She traveled by horse and wagon with her parents at the age of two to Colorado, where her family homesteaded. Her father was a skilled carpenter and he built a rock house for the family.

The family left Colorado and returned to Oklahoma and then Arkansas. June, as a young woman, met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” Crawford. Bob was not able to find work in Arkansas and traveled to Washington and Grays Harbor, where he had an Aunt and Uncle. He was hired as a logger and later as a truck driver building logging roads for Weyerhaeuser. He returned to Arkansas where he and June were married on November 1, 1937.

June and Bob moved to Brooklyn, WA, (Pacific Co) where they settled on a 40 acre farm in the North River area. Bob worked in the Saganau logging camp in Brooklyn. Soon, daughters Edith and Linda joined the family. June remained at home, working the farm, she was mother, hunter, fisherman, carpenter, gardener, skilled seamstress, horticulturist and rock hound. June was one of the few women in the North River valley who could drive and soon became the neighborhood shuttle driver for her daughters, as well as her friends. June and Bob spent the fifty-five years in Grays Harbor. She is probably best known for her fishing skills.

In 1983, June and Bob purchased a home in Oak Harbor and reluctantly they made Oak Harbor home in 1992. Bob died in 1997 just a few days before their sixtieth anniversary. June remained in her home until she was 95 and for the past several years, she had been a resident of HomePlace.

June is survived by two daughters and their husbands, Edith and Larry Porter of Oak Harbor and Linda and Kenneth Rubin of Savanah, Georgia. She is survived by two grandchildren, Jeff and Mike (Ingrid) Porter and by four great grandchildren: Justin, Tim, Melissa and Ryan Porter and chosen family members, Ken and Linda Mills, their children Ken Jr. and Kynda" She was preceded in death by her parents Bert and Nina Crown, all seven brothers, one sister and granddaughter Melanie Porter.

Graveside funeral services for June Crawford will be held at Maple Leaf Cemetery at 10:00am on Saturday, November 22, 2014. Arrangements are entrusted to Wallin Funeral Home & Cremation, LLC.

Memorials may be sent to the Melanie Porter Camp Scholarship Fund at Whidbey Presbyterian Church or to North River Food Bank (a favorite charity) 2597 North River Road, Cosmopolis, WA 98537 or to the Alzheimer’s Foundation.

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