ADA MADGE(COWING)CROGER

TACOMA, Wash. – Ada Croger, 85, passed away Oct. 15, 2008. She was born Feb. 19, 1923, in Springfield. She graduated as salutatorian from Milo High School in 1940, where she was a forward for the girls’ basketball team. She went to work for the treasury department in Washington, D.C., and had assignments there and in New York. While in Washington, D.C., she met and married Theodore William Croger, who was stationed there with the Navy at Bliss Electrical School. They celebrated 50 years of marriage in 1993 and he predeceased her in 1999. She worked as a fashion model in Seattle in the early ’40s and then settled down to be a full-time mom. Her favorite pastime was competitive bowling, and she and her WIBC team won many championship trophies. Ada was predeceased by her sister, Helen Mae McDonald; and her brother, Shirley Earl Cowing. She is survived by her sisters, Ivis Marie Campbell and Beryle Donna McLaughlin; as well as her brother, Leigh Erwin Cowing; many nieces and nephews. She has three daughters, Carol Ann Hart and John V., Janice Leigh Gomez and Michael Buck, and Barbara Croger Marshall and John Patrick; nine grandchildren, John, Steve, Colleen, Caryn, Joelle, Jay C., Stefana, Brian and Kevin; and two great-grandchildren, Sage and Iliana, with three more on the way, Athena, Will and Tuula. She will be truly missed, as she was our mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and bound our family together. A funeral service will be held 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at Gaffney Funeral Home Chapel, Tacoma, Wash. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Washington, 5213 Pacific Highway East, Fife, WA 98424. Please note “National Home” on the contribution. Arrangements by Gaffney Funeral Home, 1002 Yakima Ave., Tacoma, Wash. You may leave online condolences at www.GaffneyCares.com.