Orville “Wes” Westlund passed away peacefully on Sept. 11, 2017, at the age of 88. He served as a Navy Chaplain from 1959 to 1981, reaching the rank of commander. He retired to Oak Harbor and became involved with many organization such as the PBY Memorial Foundation and Whidbey Island Nordic Lodge and enjoyed all the friends he had made in more than 30 years living in Oak Harbor.

Some of his more notable assignments of the 13 duty stations in his career include the following;

He served as a chaplain on the USS Salisbury Sound from August 1965 through January 1967 with duty in Vietnam. The Sally was home ported in Oak Harbor.

He served with the Marines at Camp Pendleton from September 1958 through July 1960 and with the 1st Marine Air Wing in Iwakuni, Japan from September 1976 through October 1977.

He served as a chaplain to the Air Force during the transition to NAS Bermuda in February 1970 as one of the first Navy personnel assigned to the new base.

He also served as a chaplain to the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, N.J., from July 1972 through August 1976. He worked hard to replace the aging chapel with a new one. His efforts led to the construction of the Guardian of the Sea Chapel at the USCG base.

He was a charter member and an active volunteer with the PBY Memorial Foundation/PBY-Naval Air Museum, www.pbymf.org, and was part of the team that produced the video documentary, “In Defense of Their Nation,” about NAS Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor.

Donations in Wes’s memory to the PBY Memorial Foundation, the Whidbey Island Nordic Lodge to support scholarships, or to Wycliffe Bible Translators are suggested.

He is survived by son Mark Westlund of Port Townsend, daughter-in-law Dorothy, and their children Alethea and Sean.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Whidbey Island Nordic Lodge in Coupeville, 63 Jacobs Road.