Gene L. Woodwick Longtime Ocean Shores resident Gene Leatha Woodwick, 77, succumbed to cancer at home surrounded by family May 4, 2017. Born to O. Dale and Tressie Merrifield in Cheraw, Colo., Aug. 6, 1939, she was the middle child of seven siblings. Her family moved to Anacortes, Wash. in 1947. She and Larry E. Woodwick married June 14, 1957. The couple lived in Bellingham and Spokane while he completed his degree in Education. They and their first three of five children lived in Forks, Wash., from 1960 to 1966. Larry accepted a teaching position in North Bend in 1966, and the family resided in Snoqualmie until 1982, when they moved to Ocean Shores. Gene started her 50-year journalistic career as a reporter for the Anacortes American at the tender age of 14. She spent the next 40 years as a reporter/editor for daily and weekly newspapers, as well the Associated Press, including at the North Beach Beacon and North Coast News in Ocean Shores. During the past decade, Gene contributed to both the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society publication, The Sea Chest, and highlighted North Beach history with her ‘Up the Beach’ column for The Daily World in Aberdeen until shortly before her death. She won numerous state and national awards for her work. Gene also wrote several books, including two about Ocean Shores, co-authored with son Brian Logging In Grays Harbor, and in 2016, Island Girl, a memoir about growing up on Fidalgo Island. She was an administrative assistant for the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force from 1986-1995. She served with distinction on the boards of the National Marine Sanctuary, the Washington Museum Association, both the Washington State and National Press Women associations, the Polson Museum in Hoquiam and the Washington Coast Chamber. Gene earned an Associate Degree in Curating from Grays Harbor College in 1989 and was instrumental in developing and then served as director of the Coastal Interpretive Center in Ocean Shores for more than a decade and also volunteered as a docent at the Willapa Seaport Museum in Raymond. Gene is survived by her husband Larry at the family home, children Brian Woodwick of Issaquah, Bruce (Barbara Christianson) of Anacortes, Lynelle (Claude) Freeman of West Seattle, Molly Woodwick of Elma and three grandchildren. Her son Sean preceded her in death in 2011. While Gene will be long remembered for her prolific journalistic and public service career, she will be best remembered for her incredible kindness and insatiable curiosity. In the spirit of the way Gene lived her life every day, in lieu of flowers, the family requests that you do a random act of kindness in her memory. A Memorial Service is set for Saturday, June 17, 2017, at 1 p.m. at Immanuel Baptist Church located at 1200 Soule Ave. in Hoquiam. A message of condolence or of a memory can be sent to the family at www.fernhillfuneral.com. Arrangements are entrusted to Twibell’s Fern Hill Funeral Home in Aberdeen.