“My dad was a merchant marine,” Sharron said. “We all lived in the Walnut Grove area. Daddy graduated from Vancouver High School.”
Gene Howard Lusby was born Sept. 2, 1927, and died June 29, 2008. “He was my best friend. He had a tough life but he ended with a good life. At one time, he was the owner of Tomm’s Tavern.”
Her mother, Claire Hollingsworth, is remembered at the crematorium wall at Park Hill.
Sharron and Warren of the
Burnt Bridge Creek neighborhood were working with a half-moon edger, a garden trowel and clippers.
Flowers were ready, including Japanese iris and daylilies from the Wannamaker yard.
Nearby, dozens of people were remembering loved ones in the cemetery with its 35 acres of lawn.
Warren said after the 11 grave sites at Park Hill were completed that the couple would go to Evergreen Memorial Gardens Cemetery, where his parents are buried.
“I remember the times that we used to do things as a family,” Warren said. He loves remembering tales his father, Frank, would tell.
“He used to work for DuBois Lumber,” which was near the Port of Vancouver, Warren said.
Park Hill probably will be busy today with people remembering loved ones. The cemetery has more than 20,000 headstones, some dating back as far as 1815.
