Lori Boone Charles

“Give me a problem and I’ll hand you a solution.” Those who knew Lori Boone Charles would agree that that motto accurately described her. Lori was a woman of great drive and a very original, independent thinker. For Lori, no challenge was impossible, and just about any desired result was within her grasp. Lori placed great trust in her intuition. Since that intuition generally led her in the right direction, who was she to doubt it.

Lori was born on November 9, 1946 at the United States Naval Hospital in Dublin, Georgia. She was the daughter of Earl Boone and Geraldine Severson. Her childhood found her in Blaine, Washington where she matured into the independent person she eventually became.

Lori grew up with three siblings. She had two brothers, Tim and Chris and a sister, Cindy. Lori could be seen as being stubborn by her siblings. It was important to her that she was perceived as “right” when it came to her part in those typical family spats. However, this quality did not over power her caring for her family. This ability to balance her family, with her need to be seen as right, helped her to develop into a young adult while enjoying many good times with her family.

During her grade school years, Lori was a very focused and serious student who actually enjoyed the challenge of many classroom problems. She was determined to succeed, and she drew upon her gifts of trust and perseverance to provide her with a competitive edge. Lori delighted in projects that required planning, critical thinking and resolution.

During high school, Lori was relentless in her pursuit of learning, especially in those subject areas that really grabbed hold of her interests. It wasn't that she didn't put forth her best efforts in all classes, but if a subject really interested her, she would eagerly put forth extra effort to learn all she could. Lori graduated from Lincoln High School in 1964. Her favorite class in high school was history.

Lori was loyal to her friends. She found that she was most in tune with people who had similar interests and thought about things much the way that she did. Lori sometimes had a tendency to be critical in her friendships but she was more interested in finding out what was right in a situation rather than in being mean toward others. She never intentionally set out to hurt any of her friends. Lori was a person who challenged others to fend for themselves and to be original in their thinking and evaluation of the outside world. While growing up, some of her best friends were Dolores and Lois. Later in life, she became friends with Lois, Lynn David, Julie Lawell and Tanya.

On May 19, 1969, Wesly Charles exchanged wedding vows with Lori Lee Boone at Shoreline District Court of Shoreline, Washington. Wesly's sensitivity to Lori's needs proved to be a wonderful influence on this woman, who preferred to live in her “gut.” Wesly's influence brought Lori to a new emotional level, one that eventually enhanced all of her other gifts and abilities. Wesly was able to help Lori appreciate the fact that others made contributions and Lori became better at interacting with those around her. Because of this, Lori grew as a person.

Lori often neglected her own feelings in order to give to others. This was very true when it came to how she dealt with her children. She was able to hand on to each child a number of strong values. She taught them to appreciate their abilities, gave them a desire to persevere despite obstacles and set within them a drive to succeed. She had two sons, William and Nicholas. She also had one grandson, Dylan. They were always aware of how much Lori loved them.

During Lori's professional working years, she was at her best when working independently. It became the hallmark of her performance. Lori was generally able to refocus her drive and determination and readily work toward finding a way to get things done that was beneficial to herself and her co-workers. Her primary occupation was an office manage . She was employed for twenty years at Jo Kelly CPA .

For Lori, her outside interests and hobbies became another exercise in learning and mastering areas that interested her. She greatly enjoyed unraveling the "hows" and "whys" that lay behind her hobbies. Lori was always pushing herself to learn more and to stretch her knowledge base even further. She firmly believed that the more things that she knew the more control she would have over things. Her favorite pursuits were collecting paper weights,art and carving elephants.

Watching her favorite sporting events by herself was never a problem for Lori. It allowed her to indulge in her own individual interpretation of the event. It was not uncommon for Lori to know what the right play or move “should have been,” and she would vocally address these feelings even if there was no one around to hear them. And if there were others around, she would still state his feelings and gladly debate anyone on their opposing views. Recreational sports included bowling and fishing. She enjoyed following her favorite sporting events. Tops on her list were the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Falcons.

Lori placed her interest wholeheartedly behind any project she took on. The “engineer” part of her personality pushed her to find out as much information as he could, to understand the practicality in a given situation. This was something that influenced her involvement in work, pleasure and volunteer activities. Lori was involved in serving on committees for the Cub Scouts. Politically, Lori was a" Solid" Democrat.

Lori's faith allowed her to better appreciate the gifts and opinions of others. This deepening aspect of her life helped her to accept her own feelings to a greater degree. She went to catholic school.

Lori's skepticism was visible when she found it necessary to place too much trust in one person. This was never clearer than when it was time for her to schedule a vacation or period of time away from her regular schedule. Lori loved the research aspects of planning a trip, but the actual process of relaxing was far more difficult. Still, she did manage to enjoy some time away. Favorite vacations included trips to Ocean Shores, Washington and an Alaskan Cruise.

Lori was a lover of animals and cherished her pets. One of Lori's favorites was Gus the Dingo and Mitzy the Cat. They were best friends for Gus, two years and Mitzy, 22 years. Her family was rounded out by "Baby the Cat" and "George the Dog".

She worked out many of the details in advance so that she could enjoy the time and not have to worry. Her new life involved relocating to West Seattle. In retirement, she found new pleasure in game shows and "just sleeping in".

Lori Boone Charles passed away on January 1, 2012 at Providence Mt. St Vincent. Lori fought a brave battle against M.S. and Breast Cancer. She is survived by her husband, Wesly; her two sons BJ and Nick; two brothers, Timothy Boone (Sue) and Christopher Boone (Gail), and sister, Lucinda Boone. Services were held on Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:00am at the Chapel at Forest Lawn 6701 30th Ave. SW Seattle, WA, followed by inurnmnet at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Lori Boone Charles was always drawn to what was measurable, practical and factual. She was a very competent person who expected competence from others. She could be headstrong and certain about the way things were supposed to be. She was determined in every aspect of her life and certain that she was usually right about things. She trusted her intuition over all else, even if it opposed the popular belief, and she had faith in her inner vision and speculations. She wanted to be acknowledged by others as having made a contribution to whatever she was working on. Her family and friends will miss her fierce determination, relentless innovations and analytic mind. She leaves with all those who knew her many wonderful memories.