Elsie Ethel Pickles

Elsie Pickles of Olympia, WA passed away at the remarkable age of 105 on August 26, 2025.
Elsie Ethel Erickson was born on July 1, 1920, in Hoquiam, WA. She was the only child of Ethel Virginia Burns and Carl Sigurd Erickson. Elsie is recognizable in early childhood photos by the big bows her mother put in her hair. Her childhood was full of play with cousins (who called her Tudy), camping, and razor clam digging. Her childhood was also marked by the Great Depression when food and money were scarce, causing her family to sleep in late to skip a meal.
Elsie grew up in North Hoquiam where her maternal grandfather, George Franklin Burns, plotted what is still known as the Burns Addition. Elsie graduated from Hoquiam High School in 1938. President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to Hoquiam and his official declaration of the Olympic National Park bookended her senior year. She helped organize several multi-year Hoquiam High Grizzly class reunions until there were no more from her era. Elsie's senior yearbook characterization held true to the end of her life: "She has a certain sweetness of manner that is delightful".
Elsie met William Robert Pickles on a blind, double-date at a basketball game in Elma when she was a very shy 15-year-old. Her friend's date was a no-show but, as she told it, "I clung to him and never let go". Elsie's father wasn't happy about them dating and made it difficult for them to see each other so Robert gave notes to her friend who passed them along to her at school. They married on May 27, 1939, at her family home on Perry Avenue in Hoquiam. Her father, a tailor, made her wedding dress. They were married for 55 years. They had two children, William Robert Jr. and Virginia Darlene (whom she gave birth to in the front seat of her uncle Bill Burns's car in Aberdeen on the way to the hospital).
In 1944, when Robert Sr. was in the Army, Elsie became a "Betty the Bucker" at Boeing Aircraft in Hoquiam, building B29 Bomber fuselages. Her job was to brace a "bucking bar" against two panels being riveted together by a "Rosie the Riveter" on the other side. The bucking bar flattened the rivet to secure the panels together. It was a tough job for a petite young woman. She worked at Boeing until the day the war ended on August 14, 1945. Four generations of Elsie's family attended a reunion of Grays Harbor Rosie the Riveters with her in 2002.
A few days after the war ended, she went to work at the Grays Harbor Veneer Plant as a sorter. Her mother also worked at the plant and whomever got home first would pick up the children from the neighbor's house. She said times were tough when Robert was away and that her parents helped keep shoes on her children's feet. She wrote: "After Robert came home I stayed home to care for the children until they were both out of school. I did odd jobs such as wash and stretch curtains, did housework, typing or anything else I could do to help out."
Elsie started working at J.C. Penney Co. in Aberdeen as an associate in 1960 when Robert Sr. (also known as Bill) decided to go back to college. When they moved to Bellingham in 1962 so he could attend Western Washington College (now WWU), she transferred to the Bellingham store. And when they moved to Olympia in 1964 for Robert's new job as a teacher, she transferred to the downtown Olympia store. She moved with Penney's when they opened the Capital Mall location.
Elsie loved using her Penney's employee discount to help outfit her grandkids in back-to-school clothes, for birthday and Christmas gifts, and to keep Bill and herself stylishly dressed (and accessorized!) during their careers and their world travels after retirement.
Elsie retired from Penney's December 31, 1981, as the store Credit Manager. She said she weighed her pension options at the time of retirement and felt she made the right choice in taking a monthly pension payout because she got it for more than 43 years. She regularly kept in touch with former JC Penney colleagues, who became lifetime friends. She happily used her lifetime employee discount for four more decades after retiring.
The National JC Penney Alumni Club recently presented Elsie with a Centurion certificate and letter, a 50-year Pin to recognize those who have reached 50 years from their date of hire, plus a Century Club membership which recognizes the most senior Penney's alumni. She was as tickled to be recognized by the group as they were to hear her story.
Elsie and Bill were very active AUOW members, members of the Masonic Lodge, and supported local political, education, and social causes. They regularly hosted Pinochle parties in their West Olympia home.
She and Bill took ballroom dance lessons in the early 1980's and danced at every opportunity, including when they chaperoned high-school dances at Capitol High School where Bill was a teacher. They had their date photos taken at dances posing just as the student couples would. Elsie's favorite song was "Always" by Pat Boone. She remembered and sang the lyrics whenever it was played up to her final days.
In the 1960's and 70's, she and Bill enjoyed traveling, often with her mother, to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and around the US to visit relatives and see the country.
Elsie and Bill scrupulously saved to travel in their retirement years. In the 1980's and 90's, they went to nearly all the states in the US, camping in their Chevy Astro pop-up van. They collected fridge magnets from each state they visited. They became world-travelers adventuring to Sweden, China, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, and all over Europe including Italy, Greece, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and even tiny Liechtenstein. They also cruised their way through the Panama Canal. They brought back thoughtful souvenirs from their travels for grandchildren. And Elsie collected sand, wood, pebbles, and shells from her travels and displayed them in shadow boxes in their home. She also had an extensive spoon collection from all her travels.
When touring Sweden, they met an Australian couple, John and Helen FitzGerald, who adopted Elsie and Bill as their American parents. In 1992, Elsie and Bill were on the historic flight that delivered Boeing's 100th 747 to Qantas Airlines in Australia where they visited their 2nd family. John and Helen also visited Elsie in Montesano and Olympia several times. They stayed in touch the rest of her life.
When they weren't traveling in retirement, Elsie and Bill were avid, early-morning Capital Mall walkers and were featured in an Olympian article about that trend where they were described as "perhaps the fastest walkers at Capital Mall" and Elsie stated that they walked 5 times around "That's 3-1/2 miles, and we do it in 50 minutes." The reporter wrote: "They're hard to talk to because they're walking so fast." Elsie continued daily walks late into her 90's. She did not need a wheelchair regularly until her 104th year.
After Bill passed in 1994, Elsie continued traveling. She went to Indonesia, South America, Australia, England, Ireland, Florida, and to Arizona and Mexico for visits with her son Bob and bonus daughter, Linda. She went on a grand, cross-country road trip with her daughter, Virginia. They had a fantastic time and didn't even come close to killing each other, despite everyone's predictions.
Elsie said her favorite part of traveling was meeting people from different parts of the world and learning about their countries and cultures.
Elsie took photos at every family event, labeled them diligently on the back and organized them in albums. She compiled memory albums for her great-grandchildren and gifted them when they graduated high school. In the 80s she sewed quilts for every member of the family. She crocheted Afghans and coasters for gifts, crocheted baby blankets for her great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. And she left a stockpile for future great-great-grandchildren. Her home-baked cookies along with crocheted dishcloths and scrubbies were gifted each Christmas and coveted by all.
Elsie was an early adopter of technology and got her first desktop PC in 1990. She took classes to learn basic DOS and Windows.
Elsie had already compiled a large volume of genealogy records and family history before getting a personal computer. She carefully vetted and connected many generations of family on Ancestry.com. She used her PC to help organize Hoquiam High class reunions, email friends and family, and Skype with her Australian family.
Elsie especially loved making calendars and cards for birthdays & anniversaries on her computer. She scanned and included historical family photos and stories in them. She also made creative holiday newsletters and printed address labels for them each year. You knew you didn't visit enough during the year if you didn't make it into the holiday letter!
In her 90th year, she compiled family recipes into a recipe book that included favorite recipes handed down from her grandmother and mother. The recipes could be puzzling to the rest of the family due to missing oven temperatures and bake times as they were originally written when ovens were wood-fired.
In the mid-1990's, Elsie downsized her home in Olympia and moved to Country Estates in Montesano to be near Virginia. She loved feeding carrots to neighboring horses from her back yard and hosting card games and luncheons. Never a bold driver, she gave up her car in her mid 80's.
Elsie downsized again to move to an apartment at the Firs in Olympia in 2012. She made new friends when cherished ones passed away or moved to receive more care and went on every road trip available at her senior living apartment complex, including one memorable overnight trip where she had to walk down 7 flights of stairs when a fire alarm went off at the hotel. Elsie continued to play Pinochle even as her eyesight was failing. Once she determined the cards in her hand, she kept track of them and what was played by others by memory.
When her eyesight got too poor to use the computer, Elsie used the first version of the Amazon Echo. She loved to ask Alexa to play her favorite 40's music, ask for the date, time or weather, and show off to her friends by asking Alexa to tell her a joke or answer a question. She enjoyed romantic audio books from the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library.
Elsie downsized her home one last time when she needed full-time care in 2022, which resulted in another round of familial distribution of family knick-knacks, and treasures from her travels and life.
Elsie connected with people everywhere she lived and traveled. She had a quick wit and great sense of humor. She is dearly missed by her family, many branches and generations of cousins, friends, and caregivers.
Elsie is survived by her son Robert (Linda) Pickles, daughter Virginia Twedt; grandchildren Kim (Bruce) Jarvis, Kevin Focht, Kelly (Andy) Berschauer, Keith Focht, Dana (Lee) Finfer, Kathy (Bruce) Bowen, Kyle Focht, Kris (Bryan) Goheen, Matthew Pickles; great-grandchildren Alex Jarvis (Grace Olsen), Cova (Tyler Philips) Focht, Chanell (Lorenzo) Avalos, Emma (Eliah) Drake, Andy (Kayla Grapensteter) Jarvis, Isaac (Nikol) Bowen, Griffin and Claire Berschauer, Sam and Sarah Finfer, Chloe and Ella Goheen; great-great grandchildren Ian & Caden Phillips, Jace Finfer, and Esmé Drake.
Elsie's family thanks the staff of John Charles Adult Family Home in Olympia for the loving care they provided the last few years of her life. Elsie's nightly caregiver at John Charles regularly reported that she was "kind and sweet as always".
A memorial for Elsie will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September. 13, at the First United Methodist Church in Olympia, WA.