Shirley E Lusk

Shirley E. Lusk nee Gasswint, age 92, died at 11:15 a.m. on August 9, 2012 with her husband of 68 years, Fil Lusk at her side. Shirley was born on April 1, 1920 at Abilene, Kansas to Oliver Henry Gasswint and Ruby Ellen Burnworth. She was preceeded in death by both of her parents and an older sister, Olive Joyce, who died before Shirley was born. Shirley is survived by her husband, Fil Lusk; her twin brothers Orville and Oliver Gasswint; daughters Sarah M. Stanton and Michelle W. Czosnek; three grandchildren, Sean Welton, Elizabeth Leeman and Matthew Czosnek; and ten great grandchildren.

Shirley grew up on a dairy farm in Kansas. Following high school graduation, she attended the Teacher’s College in Manhattan, and then taught for three years in one-room school houses in Kansas. During World War II, she served in the WAAC-Women’s Army Air Corps, where she met and married her husband Fil who is also a WWII Veteran. They married February 15, 1944.

Not only was Shirley a wife, mother and homemaker, she was active in her church teaching Sunday School for many years and participating in bible classes and women’s groups. She also volunteered in the community, helping at a Well Baby clinic and assisting at the elementary school library. She was a musician and played both the violin and piano and helped teach her daughters as well. She even rode bareback on an elephant with her grandson, Matthew, at a safari park in Texas and enjoyed traveling abroad with her husband, Fil, in their early retirement years. Later they moved to Panorama retirement community where they made a home for the past 15 years.

a memorial service will be held at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Olympia, on Saturday, August 18th at 10 a.m. followed by a reception at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Jon’s Episcopal Church, 114 20th Ave, Olympia, WA 98501 or to the Panorama Benevolent Fund, 1751 Circle Lane SE, Lacey, WA 98503.