Garland Baker Norin, a Vashon Island resident for 65 years, died Nov. 11, 2006, at her Burton Peninsula home. She was 91 years old.

Ms. Norin was born June 25, 1915, in Tacoma. She spent her youth in Auburn and graduated from Auburn High School in 1931. She attended the State College of Washington (now Washington State University), graduating with a bachelor’s degree in speech in 1935 and serving as secretary of the associated students. She later returned to WSU to earn a master’s degree in speech in 1971.

She taught high school in LaCrosse, Wash., for two years before marrying Sam Norin in 1937 and moving to Centralia where she worked for radio station KELA.

The Norins moved to Vashon Island in 1941, first living in Ellisport and then moving to Burton two weeks before Pearl Harbor. From 1952 until 1978 Ms. Norin taught in the Vashon Schools, first at Burton Elementary School, then at Vashon High School, where she taught English and drama. During her tenure at the high school, she directed 58 plays. As a member of the Vashon Community Players and Drama Dock, she appeared in many theatrical productions as well.

After retiring from teaching, Ms. Norin opened a collectables shop, Spindrifters, in the Pike Place Market, which she ran until retiring (again) in 2001.

Ms. Norin was a noted writer and historian. In 1957 she published “Vashon Island Is,” a collection of sketches and poems from her Burton Elementary seventh and eighth graders. She republished the book in 1978 with updates by McMurray School students. She was co-editor (with Marj Watkins) of the book “The Past Remembered, A Vashon-Maury Island Student Community Project,” a 1978 publication containing history, stories and photographs pertaining to early Vashon Island and its people and places. She was also editor of the 1991 sequel, “The Past Remembered II, Vashon-Maury Island Memories,” stories collected by Blanche Caffiere and others. Ms. Norin also wrote feature articles for The Beachcomber and Seattle Times. She was a long-time member and served on the board of the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association.

Her husband Sam died in 1984. Survivors include her sons Bob of Tigard, Oregon, and Bill of San Diego, Calif. five grandchildren, a foster son Warren Yeend of Los Altos Hills, Calif. and hundreds and hundreds of her former students.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association, P.O. Box 723, Vashon, Wash. 98070.