Laurie Jean Earley

Laurie Jean Earley

Laurie Jean (Samuelson) Earley passed away December 20, 2020, at home with family at her side. She was 88 years old.

Laurie was born in Morton, Washington, October 3, 1932, to parents George and Norma Samuelson, but spent her childhood and adolescence in Tacoma, Washington, where she graduated from Lincoln High School and attended the College of Puget Sound.

While working as a civilian at McChord AFB in Tacoma, Washington, Laurie Samuelson met Keith Earley, who was stationed there. They met on a double date, although initially they were not the ones matched together-they found themselves more interested in each other than in the dates they came with. Soon they were were married. The marriage lasted 63 years.

Air Force life took Laurie, Keith, and their growing family, which eventually included son Steve, daughter Deb, and son Jim, to many places. They lived in Washington, California, Virginia, Oregon, Mississippi, and Colorado. Laurie became expert at packing belongings for moving vans, making new friends wherever they went, and helping the kids adapt to their new environments. Later in her life, Laurie would often say how much she appreciated military living and how much she enjoyed the lifestyle, the people, and the opportunities the Air Force provided. Laurie and Keith were famous for their game night get-togethers with Air Force friends, with pinochle and Tripoley nights among the most exciting.

In 1973, Keith took a civilian job as a computer field engineer in the northwest. Son Steve left for a career in the Air Force himself, and Keith, Laurie, Deb, and Jim relocated to Tacoma, Washington. She and Keith would live in the Northwest for the remainder of their lives.

Laurie was a devoted mother and housewife through all the years of raising children and sustaining her family. She was an avid reader of all kinds of fiction, loved music and movies and continued pinochle nights with long-time friends Hal and Hannah Kauffman and other friends and family. Keith and Laurie's twilight years became years of Christian faith and devotion. They were both active in churches they attended, often taking on leadership roles. Laurie devoted many years to Bible Study Fellowship, becoming a leader and teacher within the organization. Their faith sustained them to the very end.

After his second retirement, Keith and Laurie lived many places in the northwest, including Lacey, Washington; Milton-Freewater, Oregon; College Place, Washington; Walla Walla, Washington; Gresham, Oregon; and finally, Portland, Oregon. Once the nest had emptied, she took the opportunity to broaden her experiences into work and leadership positions. She was proud of her work at Kmart, where she went quickly from greeter to cashier and found that her natural conversational abilities and enthusiasm made her popular with customers. She also served leadership roles in the retirement communities in which she and Keith lived.

Laurie was an outgoing, enthusiastic, social person who valued all the friendships she and Keith made throughout the years. Even in her last days, after years of dementia and in the final stages of congestive heart failure, she remembered that if Christmas was coming, she needed to get Christmas cards out to all their friends and family, and with a bit of help, she was able to make that happen one last time.

Laurie and Keith always said they believed they would somehow die together, and although that did not happen, exactly, it was close. Laurie's beloved husband died at 88 in October, 2020. A month later, Laurie's heart weakened significantly and home hospice was initiated. December 20, 2020, just two months after Keith passed, she joined him in death.
The family is planning to inter both Laurie's and Keith's ashes at a joint ceremony in the Willamette National Cemetery in 2021. In the meantime, her ashes will rest on the mantle in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, right next to her husband's. Her presence will be felt most strongly when "Wheel of Fortune" or "Jeopardy" air on TV. Her "Wheel of Fortune" prowess was legendary. She often guessed the puzzle with just one consonant showing. Even in later years, when dementia dissolved memory away and hearing loss challenged her, she solved the puzzle quicker than everyone else in the family could.
Laurie was preceded in death by Keith, her parents George and Norma Samuelson, and her brothers George, Duane, and Adrian. Laurie will be missed by her son Steve and Steve's wife Amy, her daughter Deb and her husband Richard Drandoff, her son Jim, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and many friends.