Longtime Vashon resident Sarah Ann McMahan Bohanon died Friday, Sept. 18, 2009, at her Vashon Heights home. She was 99 years old.

She is survived by her sister Marie Askins of Columbia, S.C., her four children Donald McInnis of Vashon, Melvin Hertzberg (Susan) of Seattle, Raymond Hertzberg (Brenda) of Glendora, Calif., and Lynn Hertzberg of Seattle. Bohanon had 17 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.

She was born the sixth of 11 children to Myron Cregg McMahan and Annie Louise Smith McMahan on Feb. 12, 1910, in Spokane.

Her early years and young adult life were spent in Spokane and northern Idaho, where her father had a homestead on Evans Creek near Medimont. In 1961, she married George Washington Bohanon of Vashon Island, and her remaining years were spent on the Island.

Bohanon was a devoted mother and grandmother who loved animals and plants, family members said.

Her work career included working as a furrier for Carlson Furs in Spokane and as a nurse’s aide at the Edgecliff Sanitarium in the Spokane valley.

During World War II, she worked for the Civil Service Commission at Fairchild Air Force Base, servicing and calibrating aircraft instruments.

Later, in Renton, she worked at the Boeing Aircraft Company assembling wing flaps on B-29s. She also worked several years on Vashon Island at the Island Nursing Home, owned at the time by the Smith family.

She was a member of the Eastern Star, an affiliate of the Masons, and enjoyed being part of a pinochle group for several years.

She didn’t learn to drive until after the death of her husband George.

At 63 years old, she enrolled in driving school, earned her driver’s license and then continued to drive until she was 95 years old.

Bohanon lived a long and happy life, even though she had her share of trials, family said — her outlook was always positive.

A memorial service was held on Oct. 2 on Vashon Island. Visit the online guest book at www.islandfuneral.com.