Phyllis H. Hynson died Nov. 21, 2014, at Whidbey General Hospital, Coupeville at the age of 82. She was born in Harrington, Del., Feb. 2, 1932, to Philemon and Emma Hopkins. She grew up on the family farm in Harrington with no electricity, running water or indoor plumbing.

Phyllis remembered spending many a Friday night at her Aunt Alice and Uncle Amos Minner’s store at Masten’s Corner in Delaware. This was a community meeting place for the entire neighborhood. Eventually, Phyllis’s family sold the farm and moved into Harrington. Phyllis graduated from Harrington High School in June of 1949 and went to work for First National Bank in Harrington for the next four years. She met Ralph Joseph (Joe) Hynson at Rehobeth Beach in Delaware and was married in the Asbury Methodist Church Oct. 10, 1953.

Phyllis and Joe lived at home for a time before moving to Philadelphia, where Joe attended Temple University. This was her first adventure into the “big city.” Phyllis was hired as a bookkeeping machine operator, processing bank checks by hand. Joe completed two years of school and then began his electronics career, and he and Phyllis moved to Riverdale, Md.

Phyllis and Joe later moved to Coronado, Calif., where they met Dean and Margaret Parrish. Eventually, both couples ended up in Oak Harbor. Phyllis found work as a business machine operator until son Michael was born in 1958, and she then welcomed daughter Sharon in 1960. After she and Joe divorced, she returned to work in 1967 and was employed for a time at the Navy Exchange. From there, she accepted temporary positions with the Civil Service in the Household Goods Claim Office and then the Supply Dept. Disposal Office, which became permanent. She later accepted a position in the Household Goods Office and worked there the rest of her career. Phyllis was a loving and devoted mother and spent many hours with her children at the beach, going on picnics and Sunday drives, and at Cranberry Lake so Mike could fish. Phyllis retired in September of 1999 with 32 years of service.

Phyllis loved listening to the Dixieland Jazz Band and the SeaNotes in Oak Harbor and enjoyed visiting Dairy Valley and spending hours with the staff.

She considered Delaware her home, in spite of the fact that she had lived in Oak Harbor much longer than she had in Delaware. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Oak Harbor. She is survived by two children and their spouses, Michael and Patsy Hynson of Langley and Sharon and Joe Ralston of Marysville, Wash.; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and two stepbrothers, David and Donald Hynson, both of Delaware.

Some of Phyllis’s fondest memories were spending time with her aunts and cousins, visiting her family’s store at Masten’s Corner and sunbathing at Rehobeth Beach.

Funeral services for Phyllis Hynson will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, at Wallin Funeral Home, Oak Harbor, Wash., with Chaplain David Lura, USN (Ret.) officiating. A reception will follow. Family graveside services will be held at Maple Leaf Cemetery Saturday, Dec. 6.

Please visit Phyllis’s page in the Book of Memories at www.wallinfuneralhome.com to share thoughts and memories. Arrangements are entrusted to Wallin Funeral Home, Oak Harbor, Wash.