Birth: 8/7/1936

Sylvia Sutley, 75, passed away at home in Rochester, Washington on April 25, 2012. She was born in Los Angeles, California on August 7, 1936 to William Montford and Mildred Alon (Edens) Jones. Sylvia married John Leeland Sutley on May 7, 1954 in Eugene, Oregon, a marriage of 58 years in Oregon and Washington.

Sylvia and John have three children, Denice Ann Sutley Rose, Bruce Michael Sutley, and Valerie Marie Sutley Rhoads; nine grandchildren, Lacey Crystal Rose Ponis, Mary Kathleen Rose Fay, Jonathan Lee Sutlely-Rhoads, Jennifer Alon Rhoads, Jacob Wilder Rhoads, Jamie Ellen Rhoads, Brian Matthew Sutley, Thomas Allen Sutley, Katherine Anne Sutley, and Laurie Marrie Wherrett; eight great grandchildren, Brianna Crystal Rose-Ortiz, James Alexander Rose, Robert Luis Rose-Miranda, Emily Lacey Fay, Nathan Taylor Fay, Olivia Josephine Ponis, Connor Lewis Rhoads, and Bryson Carter Fay; and, over many years, 125 foster children. Sylvia loved them all.

In Oregon, they changed from sawmill and plywood work to real estate and building. Sylvia became a beautician and licensed cosmetologist to aid John in the transition. Together they had 32 salesmen, three offices, a construction business and rentals.

Before Reagan became president, they could see that the real estate market was going to be tough as it is today. They moved to Washington to a poultry farm where they together weathered the economic storm by raising 80,000 chickens every 60 days for about 20 years. Sylvia and John had milk cows, steers, sheep and Nubian goats. During Reaganomics, Sylvia’s neighbors were without work or compensation. Sylvia ran a food bank out of her front door for three years until the job market returned. All who knocked received a gallon of milk, a frozen chicken, two pounds of hamburger, two dozen eggs and ten pounds of baking potatoes. The goods were free to all. In three years, Sylvia gave away hundreds of pounds of hamburger, 2,700 frozen chickens, 20 gallons of milk a day, tons of potatoes and dozens of eggs. In summer, her porch in the morning would be covered with fruits and vegetables left during the night. When area wells went dry, Sylvia put out three hoses so that, night and day, neighbors had water until new wells could be drilled; this drilling took many months.

Sylvia was a Cub Scout den mother of 21 scouts, a past Noble Grand of the Rebekahs Lodge, the current Noble Grand of the Odd Fellows Lodge, and a member of the LDS church. Sylvia served them all.

This does not cover all of her attributes but is only a synopsis. As husband John says, love is hard to describe.

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