Tina Staswick Costle

Thelma Mae Vivian Staswick Costle (known as "Tina" since the 1960's) was born May 27, 1925, on the Staswick family farm on the Snohomish River between Snohomish and Everett WA. She died peacefully on September 20, 2015, in Kirkland WA. She was the youngest of five children born to Ed and Minnie Langsjoen Staswick. She spent her early years at Swan's Trail (WA) School and Swan's Trail Lutheran Church. Graduating from Snohomish High School in 1943, in 1952 she became the first in her family to graduate from college -- Pacific Lutheran College. She continued with many other exciting adventures -- teaching first graders in Seattle, taking a banana boat to Panama, going on a freighter to Japan, climbing Mt. Fuji, moving to Anchorage to teach on the Fort Richardson Army base, driving up the Alcan Highway, and surviving the Alaska earthquake of 1964. In Anchorage she met the dashing George Costle. The two married and then spent several years in Fairbanks (including surviving the great Fairbanks flood of 1966) before moving to Brier, WA (just before the eruption of Mt. St. Helens) to be near Tina's sisters and brother. Tina and George travelled widely, which included many trips to Hawaii and cruises to the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Northern Europe. After George's death, Tina moved to Brighton Court in Lynnwood, where she joined her sister Margaret Ungar, her brother-in-law Dallas Butler, and many new friends. Tina outlived her husband George and her siblings (Sidney, Evelyn, Inez, and Margaret) and their spouses. She leaves a stepson Douglas and his wife Betsy, loving stepchildren and step grandchildren, and nieces and nephews who will always have cherished memories of her. Tina had a quick and sassy sense of humor, was a cheerful, positive, and fun relative and friend, and never said a bad word about anyone. The family would like to thank the staff of Kirkland Haven Adult Family Home for the loving care they gave to Tina. After a private family burial, there will be a celebration of Tina's long and amazing life on Saturday, October 17, at 2:00 pm, at "A Chapel on Swan's Trail" (formerly Swan's Trail Lutheran Church, where Tina was baptized and confirmed). In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to Pacific Lutheran University or Evergreen Hospice.