Nora Marie Anderson passed on from this plane of existence on Aug. 4, 2020, after a two-year battle with breast cancer. She was 74.

She was born Nora Marie Fitzgerald on March 1, 1946, in Wyandotte, Mich., as the only child of Alexander and Eloise (Barrett) Fitzgerald.

She is survived by her daughter, Emilie; sons, Joel, Christopher and Tracy; grandsons, Kyle, Alex and Cedric; granddaughters, Kelley, Karianna and Freya; great-granddaughters, Marley and Leona; and her ex husband, Robert Wilson. She was preceded in death by her husband, Terry Anderson, who passed in 1990.

Nora is best remembered as a friend to nature, being an avid gardener and ardent supporter of using native species in her landscaping. She loved the critters that lived in and around her house as much as any human who lived on the planet and went out of her way to make sure they had food and place to live. It was never out of the ordinary to see Nora eating peanut butter sandwiches while feeding her pet pooches roast chicken and boiled rice.

Though she grew up in Michigan and California, Whidbey Island, Wash., was the place that most felt like home to her. She spent more than five decades living there, splitting time between Greenbank, Coupeville and Clinton.

The bounty of natural beauty helped her feel like she could fill her lungs to capacity with the vitality of life.

In her twilight years, her favorite place to be was out on her back deck, soaking in the morning sunshine, listening to the twitters of chickadees, buzzing of hummingbirds, chattering of squirrels and raucous calls of the jays and crows.

It was her wish to be cremated and buried next to Terry at Sunnyside Cemetery in Coupeville, Wash., so among the soils of Whidbey will she remain for all time.