Willalea Jeanetta Keep (Oldham) Adams

Willalea (Billie) Jeanetta Keep (Oldham) Adams November 23, 1938 to March 29, 2011 Billie was born in Yakima, WA to Ena Blanche (Keep) Bassell and Charles Jasper Keep. She was the youngest of 11. She married Hewitt (Mickey) Duke Oldham on March 17, 1956. She worked at Del Monte Cannery (Yakima, WA) and Snokist Growers (Yakima, WA). She was the first female label machine operator at Snokist. She and Mickey divorced in 1981. She later married Elmer (Whitey) Adams. They moved to Vancouver, WA and then to Hollister, CA. She then worked at K-Mart Deli (Gilroy, CA), then K&S Market for her dear friends Lily Klauer and family. When K&S closed, she continued to work for the Klauers at their Hallmark and stationery stores. She retired, then started to volunteer for Hazel Hawkins Hospital Reception Desk and Hazel's Thrift Store. She was also an Auxiliary Board member at Hazel Hawkins Hospital. She was a member of the Grandmothers Club of Hollister. She enjoyed shopping, playing cards, going out to eat, and spending time with her friends and family. She is survived by 3 children, Lora Barrett and her husband James of Yakima, WA, David Oldham of Selah, WA, and Nancy Oldham of Hollister, CA, her 11 grandkids, James, Phillip, Marc, Craig Barrett, Patrick, Robert Valdez and his wife Brandy, Amanda Marlow and her husband Kieth, Corey, Chelsea, Brandon and Marshall, 16 great-grandchildren, 1 pending great-great-grandchild, one surviving sibling, Bobbe Fortier, 2 step-brothers, Lewis and Leroy Bassell, and 2 step-sisters, Becky Bassell and Linda. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Elmer Adams. After a short but courageous fight with acute leukemia she has gone to Heaven to sparkle there. Lunch and services to be held at Holy Family Church, Yakima, on April 13, 2011, with lunch at noon, and service beginning at 2pm. Donations in her memory can be made to the Leukemia Foundation.