Retta Baan, 82, longtime resident of Oak Harbor, died at Oak Harbor Retirement Community Thursday, April 22, 2004.

Mrs. Baan was born Henrietta Vande Werfhorst to Gysbert Vande Werfhorst and Alberdina (Roelofs) Vande Werfhorst in Haywarden, Iowa, June 4, 1921. She moved with her parents to Oak Harbor in 1933. Retta graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1938 and attended the Kulshan Beauty School in Mt. Vernon. Feb. 2, 1942, Retta married Albert Baan. They made their home in Lynden, and then later moved to Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1959. In 1981 they moved to Hemet, and then back to Oak Harbor in 1986. Retta was preceded in death by her husband Albert in 1987. She moved to Grapevine, Texas, in 1994, to be near family, returning to Oak Harbor in 1997.

Retta loved music, and sang in church choirs from 1935 until 1986. She held active memberships in the following congregations: First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon; First Reformed Church, Lynden; First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs, Colo.; First Presbyterian Church, Hemet, Calif.; as well as First Reformed Church, Oak Harbor.

Retta is survived by three children, Dale H. Baan and wife Barbara of Flower Mound, Texas, Bruce D. Baan and wife Debbie of Grapevine, Texas, and Diane F. Lewis and husband Les of Pueblo, CO; five grandchildren; five siblings, Gerry Atwood, Jo Ernst and husband Chris, Janet Fikse and husband Gerald, Frank Vande Werfhorst and wife Katherine, and Marie Van Dyk, all of Oak Harbor; also, numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be Monday, April 26, 2004, at 1 p.m., at Burley Funeral Chapel, Pastor Jon Brown officiating. Private inurnment will be at Maple Leaf Cemetery. Memorials may be made to First Reformed Church of Oak Harbor. Arrangements and cremation under direction of Burley Funeral Chapel.