Shirley Jeanne Swank Lines-Lindahl
Shirley Lines-Lindahl had a passion for education and loved her family, traveling and being a part of the communities she lived in.
Shirley Jeanne (Swank) Lines-Lindahl, age 95, died at Grace Adult Family Home in Ferndale, Washington Dec. 22, 2024. She was born April 2, 1929, in Coulee City, Washington to Percy L. and Addie Jo (Emes) Swank.
Shirley was raised on a wheat farm west of Coulee City. She helped cook, and drove the diesel CAT tractor and wheat trucks on her parents' wheat farm during the summers while growing up and through the 1950s.
She attended grade school in one-room schoolhouses in the Baird Community. She attended Coulee City High School for two years and transferred to Waterville High School for her third and last year, graduating in 1946. After attending Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington for two years, she graduated from Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University) in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and, by attending summers, from Oregon State University in 1966 with a master's degree in Business Education.
Shirley was an educator with a distinguished career in business education. From 1949 to 1966, she taught in Sunnyside, Washington; Palo Alto, California; Union Gap, Washington; Mercer Island, Washington; and Yakima Valley College, Yakima, Washington. In 1967, Shirley moved to Pullman, Washington and taught in the Dept. of Office Administration at Washington State University. Beginning in August 1975, she taught in the Business Education Department at Othello High School in Othello, Washington until her retirement in 1982.
She married Jack Milton Lines in June 1958 in Yakima and divorced in 1963. She married Robert Gerald Lindahl in June 1981 in Othello.
Beginning in 1984, she and her husband Bob traveled full-time throughout the United States, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Alaska. They spent three summers in Alaska: 1987, 1989 and 1993. They were avid fishermen and sightseers.
Shirley was an active past member of education associations and local clubs, including Yakima Valley Philharmonic Choral Society, Othello Eagles, VFW Post, and numerous traveling groups, as well as the Othello Presbyterian Church.
She worked as a winter volunteer with her husband Bob for several winters at Desert Pools, Desert Hot Springs, California; and at various NACO Resorts. She also co-hosted with Bob one month at Swift Water Campground, Soldotna, Alaska, in 1993.
She is preceded in death by her sister, Beverly June (Swank) Taylor in 1963, her father, Percy L. Swank in 1982, and her mother, Addie Jo (Emes) Swank in 1985.
Shirley is survived by two sons, Marshal Swank Lines and Lewis Kent Lines of Carnation, Washington, and her husband of 43 years, Robert G. Lindahl of Blaine, Washington.
A memorial service is planned for January 18, 2025, at 2 p.m. at Blaine Christian Fellowship Church.
Shirley’s cremains are to be interred in the family plot in Soap Lake, Washington.