July 15, 1917 ~ April 15, 2009

Charlotte Crystal Canfield Green passed away of natural causes at 1:50 p.m., April 15, 2009, at her daughter’s home in Baker City, Oregon. Always it is sorrowful to say goodbye to a beloved parent. However, this is also a time of reflection to honor the legacy of Charlotte’s life.

Charlotte was born in Seattle, Washington, July 15, 1917, to Emma Meyer Canfield and Virgil David Dewitt Canfield. She grew up on Vashon Island, where she met her cherished sweetheart, Philip, when she was 15. They married in June, 1936, and went to the University of Washington together, where she majored in home economics, he in social work and together were practice partners for the University tennis team. They spent 69 years of happy marriage until his passing in 2005. Together, they provided love and guidance to their five children, Cheryl (Friedman), Aletha (Bonebrake), David, Heather (Bell) and Hollyn Green.

As a mother and woman, Charlotte was, above all, supremely generous. Her children never lacked for her full attention. Each evening, dinner represented the knowledge of balanced nutrition plus the lifelong skill of good cooking. Holidays were a fantastic feast, with preparation starting days ahead.

Threaded throughout her family life, Charlotte was wonderfully creative. The holiday home was festooned with seasonal displays. Every few years, the walls of the house were re-papered in soft boat scenes, or palm fronds or other exotic designs, not due to wear and tear but due to a happy embrace of new light and color. Likely, Charlotte’s greatest expression of talent was through her sewing. She made beautiful suits from Vogue patterns reminiscent of Jackie Kennedy’s wardrobe, a woman she greatly admired, that she would wear to social events in Washington, D.C., where Philip was in government, and to diplomatic affairs when they traveled together on business to Copenhagen and Cairo and South America. She became a local celebrity when she personally tailored for her two eldest daughters’ weddings held just a week apart in August, 1961. The brides, the mother of the bride, and the full entourage of bridesmaids and were resplendent in Charlotte’s dramatic creations.

Any memory of Charlotte’s home includes books and books and books. Charlotte was a devoted reader throughout most of her 91 years. Even during the early years of television, the family would encircle the novelty of Bonanza or Walt Disney’s World of Color, while Charlotte huddled in the kitchen engrossed in a novel. Family trips to the local library were more common than to the grocery store. Charlotte’s prodigious reading habit made her an easy winner in any Scrabble or Crossword contest.

These memories are not static, but a living legacy of contribution to her family and community. Charlotte’s lessons of generosity, expressed in the family circle or through leadership of United Way campaigns, were absorbed by her children and are expressed today through careers in service work. Likewise, Charlotte’s spontaneous creativity and passion for learning imprinted a lifelong example that nourishes her children’s, grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s minds.

Charlotte Canfield Green – your wit and wisdom and grace are a loss that will not be replaced. But your gifts to us all continue each day.

Charlotte was preceded in death by her brother Donald, brother Herb, her husband Philip, and her daughter Cheryl. She is survived by one brother, Basil Eugene, her son-in-law William Friedman (Cheryl), son Philip David (Debbie), daughters Aletha, Heather (Calvin) and Hollyn (Mainus Sultan), grandsons Warren Green, Brendan Flowe and Gordon Bonebrake, granddaughters Sylvia Bonebrake Bowers, Jennifer Bonebrake Harting and Kajori Sultan, and great-grandchildren Charlotte, Franklin, Lena and Stella Bowers, and Frank and Emma Harting. She is also survived by her beloved nephew Donald R. Canfield and his family, who reside on Vashon, and his sister Cynthia, and Charlotte’s Green-family nieces and nephews Kay Gannon, Joe Green, Jr., Judy Kane and Skip Green, whom she dearly loved and who always sent birthday cards, called, and came to visit her right up to her last days on this Earth.

Charlotte’s remains will be buried next to her husband Philip’s in the Green family plot on Vashon Island. Graveside services will be held at 11:30 a.m., May 16, at the Island Cemetery. All are welcome. A luncheon reception for family and friends will be held at the Island Funeral Home at 12:30 p.m. and the family looks forward to greeting any of Charlotte’s old friends there, even those who are unable to attend the service.

Those wishing to make memorial contributions in memory of Charlotte Green may send them to the Baker County Library, 2400 Resort St., Baker city, OR 97814.

(paid obituary)