2A | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS
On The Record
Obituaries
GEER—Raymond
R.
Geer, 89, passed away Oct.
2, 2019, in Florence.
Ray was born Feb. 5,
1930, to William (Bill)
and Adella Geer. Raised
in Florence, Ray loved and
played all sports, becoming
one
of
Siuslaw
H i g h
S cho ol’s
star ath-
letes.
That is
where he
met the
Raymond
love of
Geer
his life,
Twyla Francisco, whom
he married in 1951 — the
same year he was drafted
into the U.S. Army during
the Korean War.
After the war ended, he
attended Berkeley Univer-
sity and received a degree
in Business Finance then
moved his family back to
Oregon, where he began to
work as a salesman for U.S.
Plywood.
He loved the sales in-
dustry because it allowed
him to work face to face
with a variety of people,
be his own boss, challenge
himself and compete with
others… all of his favorite
things!
During this time he
raised four children along
with his wife Twyla, but
they decided to make a life
change in hopes of having
better opportunities.
So, in 1973, they moved
their family to Arizona. He
was hired at Anozira Ga-
rage Door Systems and in-
stantly became its leading
salesman. Although he was
offered the top manage-
ment position, he declined
so that he could continue
doing what he loved: work-
ing directly with the public
helping to grow the com-
pany and still control his
earning potential.
Later in life, Ray and his
wife decided to start an
elderly care home which
they called The Care Affair.
It gained the reputation of
having the best food and
warmest caregivers in the
business, successfully op-
erating until 1997, when
Ray and Twyla decided to
retire back to their home-
town — specifically, back
to his wife’s family home-
stead on Upper North Fork
Road in Florence.
They walked the proper-
ty in search of the perfect
spot to put their new house
and then turned it into a
home. Ray built a huge
front porch for his wife to
host porch parties, a large
two-car garage and a big
back porch.
Together they created
beautiful flower beds, a
vegetable garden and took
care of their new outdoor
pets: the deer and birds.
Ray was an honest, hard
working man with a kind
heart. He loved sports, es-
pecially football! He also
enjoyed playing chess,
cribbage and pinochle. He
was known for his hearty
laugh, for his sense of hu-
mor (as well as for being a
jokester), his love of food
and for being a great sto-
ryteller.
Ray was preceded in
death by his wife, Twyla;
brother Warren Geer; and
son, Scott Geer.
Ray is survived by his
son, Kim Geer; daughters
Rochelle Baliz, Shannon
Nivilinszky (and her hus-
band Barry Nivilinszky);
as well as four grand-
children: Shane O’Brien,
Nichole
Aramapakul,
Brandon Nivilinszky and
Jordan Nivilinszky; plus
four great-grandchildren:
Bryce O’Brien, Ayla An-
thony, Cora Nivilinszky
and Kyden Nivilinszky.
His love for his family,
friends and country was
what made him the happi-
est. No words can express
how much we will miss our
Dad, Papa Bear, Grandpa
and dear friend.
KELLY—Sharon L. Kel-
ly, 76, formerly of Florence,
passed away Oct.18, 2019,
in Albany, Ore., where she
had resided for the past 15
years.
Sharon was born Dec.
25, 1942, in Portland, Ore.,
to Wil-
liam and
L aVira
F a n -
drey. The
family
moved to
Eugene,
O r e . ,
Sharon Kelly
w h e n
she was a
young child. Sharon then
graduated from South Eu-
gene High School in 1961.
She went on to graduate
from the Eugene Techni-
cal-Vocational School in
1963 with a degree in prac-
tical nursing.
Sharon married Ramon
(Monty) Deardorff on Feb.
15, 1964, and the couple
was married for 35 years.
In 1977, they moved to
Florence, Ore., where the
two co-owned Siuslaw Au-
tomotive & Towing until
1999.
She enjoyed caring for
the family horses with her
daughters as well as help-
ing others. Sharon was a
member of PeaceHealth
Hospital Auxiliary as well
as the Florence Police De-
partment Auxiliary.
Sharon graduated from
the Police Reserve Acade-
my on June 13, 1996. She
became a reserve police
officer for the Florence Po-
lice Department, where she
stayed until her retirement.
Sharon is survived by
her three daughters: Lau-
rie (Rob) Morton, Deb-
bie (Ron) Beatty and Kim
(Steve) Davis; six grand-
children: Justin (Gretchen)
Morgan, Aaron Morgan,
Brad Davis, Myranda Da-
vis, Stephen Davis Jr., and
Brigett (Ethan) Jones; and
five great-grandchildren:
Grant, Brett, Devyn, Levi
and Maverick.
At her request, no formal
services will be held.
AAsum-Dufour Funer-
al Home is handling the
arrangements (www.aas-
um-dufour.com).
MILLER —Marilyn
Miller, 77, passed away
Oct. 23, 2019, in Florence.
Born June 1, 1942, in
Dallas, Texas, to parents
Jeanne Vical and Hugh
Milton
M i l l -
er,
the
Amer-
i c a n
South-
west was
Mar i -
lyn’s first
Marilyn Miller
home —
living in
D e nton ,
Texas, and then Albuquer-
que, New Mexico where
she graduated from high
school.
She spent one year of
high school in Auckland,
New Zealand, and anoth-
er at Siuslaw High School,
where she was a cheerlead-
er.
She also studied at the
University of New Mexico.
Following her interest
in the business world, she
worked as Office Manager
at Roberts Corporation in
Albuquerque, and then as
executive secretary to the
company president of Ten-
neco in Bakersfield, Calif.
From 1977 to 1982,
she was vice-president of
Benefit Systems in Santa
Monica, Calif., where she
managed employee stock
option plans (ESOP), pen-
sion plans and defined
benefit plans.
At that time, Benefit Sys-
tems was the second largest
ESOP administration firm
in the U.S.
While her years in the
Southwest initiated her to
deserts, mountains and
warm beaches, it was the
Northwest that she truly
loved — specifically the
Central Coast of Oregon
— where the family spent
many summers at Siltcoos
Lake.
At the end of 1982, Mar-
ilyn moved to the North-
west for good. In 1985, she
opened Coastal Answer-
ing and Business Services,
a full -service secretarial
business which she owned
and operated until 1996 —
first on Maple Street in Old
Town and lastly on Oak
Street.
She built a substantial
and loyal clientele serving
many Florence businesses.
She retired from her busi-
ness and eventually worked
part time for three years at
Grocery Outlet.
As a long-time resident
of Dunes City, Marilyn was
active in local government,
serving seven years on the
Dunes City Planning Com-
mission, five of which she
served as a chairwoman; as
Dunes City Councilor for
four years and three years
on West Lane Planning
Commission as chairwom-
an for three of those years.
She actively lobbied for
clean water and shoreline
protection as well as sus-
tainable development and
guardianship of Oregon’s
unique share of Nature’s
bounty.
Marilyn was also active
in a variety of community
organizations. She was a
past board member of Siu-
slaw Area Women’s Center
(now SOS). She helped in
the establishment of a safe-
ty house in Florence for
abused women and the be-
ginnings of Florence Food
Share.
She and her friend, Gini
James, helped organize and
run the Focus Four hotline.
She served as vice presi-
Anniversary
Come join family and
friends to celebrate Dan
and Vivian Stinger’s 70th
wedding anniversary on
Saturday, Nov. 2. The cele-
bration will be at the West
Woahink Meeting Hall,
from noon to 4 p.m. No
gifts please, and snacks
will be provided. We will
also be celebrating Dan’s
90th birthday!
OPEN ENROLLMENT
ENDS DEC 7
FEARLESS IS
KNOWING YOU HAVE
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Choose a plan that gives you the service, reliability and value you expect.
With a wide variety of Medicare plans to choose from, you can have:
Clarification
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$0 prescription deductible (generic tiers)
$0 primary care copay
Dental, vision and hearing benefits
In front page story
“Climate Debate Cont-
nues Within Community”
(Oct. 23), Mike Allen was
identified as a member of
the Florence Climate Al-
liance; Allen is affiliated
with the Siuslaw Climate
Alliance, although he is
not currently a member of
the group.
$0 medical deductible
Chiropractic and massage benefits
$0 annual physical exam
Acupuncture and naturopathy benefits
$0 fitness membership
Over-the-counter drug allowance
Call to schedule an appointment or for more information
Call to schedule an appointment or for more information
Abel Insurance Agency
Abel Insurance Agency 875 Hwy 101, Florence, OR 97439
541-997-3466
875 Hwy. 101,
Florence, OR 97439 • 541-997-3466
Licensed independent agent for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.
Licensed independent agent for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.
Weather Data
D ATE
Oct.15
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Oct. 19
Oct. 20
Oct. 21
H IGH
57
57
58
58
54
54
60
L OW
42
50
47
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47
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53
R AIN
0.00
0.73
0.74
0.05
0.31
0.09
0.00
Courtesy of Roger Cunningham
LIVE FEARLESS
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
REGENCE.COM/MEDICARE
REG-110336-19/09-OR1-AEP
©2019 Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
Regence is an HMO/PPO/PDP plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Regence depends on contract renewal. Regence
complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age,
disability, or sex. ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al
1-800-541-8981 (TTY: 711).ͩNj졿ƧưǷ̹ůɄġNJ뼷ǷĻŗы͘ȦīДҶՎ˖Ө뼶ɐٍǖ 1-800-541-8981 (TTY: 711).
Y0062_AGFLR20_M
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dent of the Florence Coor-
dinating Council and was
nominated in 1993 for the
Florence Area First Citizen
award. She was a mem-
ber of Coastal Consensus
Group, the Task Force on
Drugs and Alcohol and a
longtime member of So-
roptimist International
of Florence and Florence
Area Democratic Club.
Marilyn enjoyed trav-
eling and took many trips
back to Albuquerque and
Santa Monica, as well as
Mexico and Europe. In
keeping with her devo-
tion to the Northwest, she
traveled to both Barrow,
Alaska, and Lake Banff,
Canada, each on a Summer
Solstice during the first de-
cade of this century.
She was an avid reader
and enjoyed trying to out-
wit crossword puzzles.
Marilyn enjoyed cele-
brating holidays with fam-
ily and friends, always con-
tributing her well-known
and irresistible pumpkin
pies.
Marilyn, you were a big
part of the Florence com-
munity and you will be
missed.
We specialize in helping people get along with people
CAFA, a mental health agency, now has a branch open in Florence
Counseling for individuals, couples &
children; neurofeedback; & group
classes including parenting &
emotional intelligence development
Location: 491 Laurel Street
Florence, Oregon 97439
Lori is a Contact: 541-686-6000 ex. 561
long time
LoriM@Cafaweb.com
Florence
www.cafaweb.com
resident
MISSING PLANTS:
Who ever picked up the
potted plants left at
Muriel O. Ponsler
Memorial State park
on 9/11, please contact the
Lane County Sheriff ’s office
to return them.
No questions asked!
Autumn Falling Leaves
Bazaar
St. Mary Our Lady of the Dunes
Catholic Church
Saturday, November 2
9:00AM - 2:00pm
Gift
Baskets
Arts &
Crafts
Religious
Jewelry
Pie by
the slice
Sweet
Shoppe
Raffl e
Gifts
Books
& Plants
85060 Hwy. 101
One Mile South of Bridge