Derry Ann Werge

Born Feb. 4, 1926 in Los Angeles, CA, to Dee L. Ellis and Henrietta Harshman Ellis, Derry spent her childhood in Hollywood. She later moved with her family to Panama where she was in the first graduating class of Balboa High School during World War II. A 1946 graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in Journalism, Derry was on the staff of the UW Daily newspaper and served in rotation as its first female managing editor. At the UW, she was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. In 1947, she married Thomas C. Werge of Seattle. Together they started and managed the successful Werge Engineering Corp. in Southern California. Widowed in 1969, Derry remained close to her family throughout the rest of her life, never turning down a game of Scrabble, occasionally enjoying a glass of wine, and avidly following her favorite baseball team, the L.A. Angels.

Derry is survived by her sister, Betty (Ellis) Winter of West Seattle; sister-in-law, Doris (Werge) Samac of Sunriver, Oregon; and by her daughters: Beth Harris (Duvall, WA), Barbara Brown (Puyallup, WA), and Nan Werge (Monroe, WA). Nan lived with Derry and served as her steadfast companion and caregiver through recent years. Derry is also survived by six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren—all of whom reside in the greater Seattle area and who were blessed by being together at her bedside to bid her farewell…for now.

The family will be celebrating her life in a private gathering on October 26th.

On behalf of Purdy & Kerr with Dawson Funeral Home, we would like to thank you for visiting this page

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