Longtime Oak Harbor resident Shirley A. Vance passed away Thursday, March 31, 2016, at Whidbey General Hospital in Coupeville.

Named for Hollywood actress Shirley Temple, she was born in Chico, Calif., on May 18, 1942, the second daughter of John and Irma (Spaulding) Wallenstein. Following her mother’s early death, Shirley attended grade school in Amorita, Okla., and graduated from Amity High School in Amity, Oregon, in 1960.

She married Navy seaman Edgar Melvin Vance Jr. in 1963, and worked for the Veterans Administration in Salem, Ore., where their first son Melvin John was born in 1965.

When Ed was stationed in San Diego, the family moved there and a second son, Richard Kent, was born in 1968. Ed’s transfer to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station brought them to Whidbey Island in 1969, where they remained after Ed’s retirement from the Navy in 1981. Like his father before him, Ed succumbed to a heart attack at age 47.

Shirley was fascinated by lighthouses and accumulated a large collection of lighthouse-themed memorabilia. She was active with North Whidbey REACT for many years, monitoring CB communications, as well as offering child care in her home. She was a gentle, caring soul who loved to read, knit and crochet, gifting new babies with her handmade blankets and adult friends and relatives with colorful afghans.

She is survived by her two sons, Melvin and Richard, both of Oak Harbor; older sister Dr. Rachel Korach of Lake Oswego, Ore., and younger sister Irma Jo Shearer of Chico, Calif.; two nieces, one nephew, four great-nieces, three great-nephews, one great-great niece, four great-great nephews; and her husband’s siblings, Robert, Connie, Mary and Kenneth and their families.

Services were held at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Ore., on April 7, 2016, with Roy Flanary officiating, and music by Kenneth and Dolores Vance. Interment followed in the Willamette National grave of her husband, AT1 Edgar Vance.

Remembrances may be made to COPDFoundation.org