Georgia Drakos, 67, of Vashon/Maury Island, WA died, on November 13, 2021.

The daughter of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Marshall and Mrs. Bernice F. Marshall, Georgia was born on February 13, 1954 in El Paso, Texas. Growing up in a military family, she moved often throughout her childhood, notably spending time in Maine, where she learned to ski, and finally settling in Los Alamitos, California, where she took up bodysurfing. She graduated from Los Alamitos High School, where she was a proud member of the Speech and Debate team and the founder of the Seal Beach Bodysurfing Club. Georgia competed in beauty pageants throughout her teens, culminating in her title as Miss Seal Beach 1971.

Her passion was taking care of others. As a young woman, she translated that drive for caretaking into a career in nursing. Among her many jobs in the healthcare profession, she was an EMT, an RN, and a nursing school instructor. A ferocious personality, her loved ones always knew that she would never hesitate to put on her red high heels for them (Georgia’s code for laying down the law). She loved life, she loved animals, and she was known to take in a stray or two (animals and humans).

Georgia became a mother in 1975, giving birth to her daughter Erin, with then husband, Hugh Grady, Jr.

In 1979, she married her best friend and love of her life, Nick Drakos in Long Beach, CA. They made their first home in Cypress, CA for 22 years. Together they lovingly designed their next home of 19 years, “Orchard House,” in La Habra Heights, CA where Nick could be closer to work and they could both spend more time together tending their little orchard. Georgia and Nick shared an adventurous spirit and thrived on exploring the world together. Camping and skiing (water and snow) made up most of the couple’s early adventures. Many weekends were enjoyed camping with the Bottom Feeders, a bluegrass collective, and they added stamps to their passports visiting a new country or region in the world as often as they could. The last trip they took together was a road trip through Oregon and California in their motorhome in the fall of 2021, visiting friends and family.

Georgia was preceded in death by her beloved nephew, Ryan Neale, her cherished brother Edward Marshall, a handful of dear and true friends, and the cats and dogs she loved along the way.

She is survived by her husband of forty-two years, Nick Drakos, her daughter, Erin Grady of Altadena, CA, and her sisters, Linda Sample and Karen “Penny” Thompson, as well as her brothers/sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, great friends, and one dog.

A lifelong organ donor, Georgia now lives on in others. What remains has been integrated with the sea she so dearly loved.