Jean Allison Thomas Houston

Jean Allison Thomas HOUSTON Passed away peacefully on July 24th, 2005 at her Whidbey Island home. She was born in Arlington, Washington August 30th 1913, to Dell W. and Elsa Buell Thomas. She attended Roosevelt High School and the University of Washington. During the Second World War she and her husband with two of their children moved to Crockett Prairie on Whidbey Island and raised sugar beets and sheep. In the 1950's she began her work career for Father Bigliardi of Mercer Island's Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and then with the architectural firm Waldron, Pomeroy, Polk, & Smith as their office administrator (before computers), until her retirement the late 1970's. She was a founding member in 1968 of the Architectural Secretaries Association, which is now the Society of Design Administration. In her retirement years she moved to her own house on Whidbey and was active in causes on her beloved Island, where she was a volunteer tutor, volunteered to help save the beach at Double Bluff for the public; volunteered at Senior Thrift and was active in her church, the Unitarian Universalists of Whidbey Island, and planted all the apple, fir, alder, maple and birch trees on her property. She is survived by her daughters Sara Houston Culver and husband Gary of Seattle, Mariellen Houston Tissot and husband Jeremiah Ray, and Barbara Houston, both of Whidbey Island. Grandchildren Michael Martin and wife Alysha, Kevin Tissot and wife Erin, Sabrina Tissot Ibrahim and husband Shane, Elise Tissot Story and husband Jeremy, all of Seattle, and Joel Rhodes and wife In Ea of China; and 7 great-grandchildren: Christina, Fiona, Isabelle, Lauren, Augustus, Rio, and Rose. She was a guide for our family and we will miss her. A Memorial will be held on Saturday, August 6, at 2:00 p.m. at the Trinity Lutheran Church (the Chapel) on the corner of State Route 525 (Main highway) and Woodard Road, Freeland. The ferry lines can be long on the weekends.