Anna Belle Cole Volk | Passages

Anna Belle Cole Volk
Jan. 23, 1923 — Dec. 15, 2009

Anna Belle Volk died peacefully in her sleep at Mountain Glen Retirement Home in Mount Vernon, Wash., where she has lived for the past several years.

Anna Belle Cole was born in Crestline, Ohio to Gladys DeGray Cole and Robert Miles Cole. She graduated from Crestline High School in 1940.

She met Charles Eugene "Gene" Volk and they married when he was drafted in 1942. They had one child, John Charles Volk, who preceded Anna Belle in death.

Anna Belle worked as a waitress in a nearby town during Gene's deployment and recovery from wounds received at the Battle of the Bulge. Many years later they divorced.

Anna Belle found work with a doctor and there learned to take X-rays. She extended her knowledge of x-ray and became a radiology technician instructor at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Calif. She and her new beau went into business in 1978 with her son, John, to build a garage door company. She retired from that position in the late 1980s.

Anna Belle traveled all over the North American continent via RV for the next 10 years. She was very involved in volunteer work with the Senior Center while living on San Juan Island.

She was proficient in all types of needle work, knitting and crochet as well as embroidery. She played a mean game of bridge regularly throughout her entire life.

Anna Belle is survived by her sister, Mary Evelyn Iiams of Mansfield, Ohio; daughter-in-law, Lainey Volk, of Friday Harbor, Wash.; grand-children: John Charles Volk II (and Becky Corliss) of Friday Harbor, Wash., and Cristine Yvonne Orr (and Christopher) of Federal Way, Wash.; and great-grandchildren, Deanna Renee Orr, Ian Thomas Volk, Gabriel Charles Orr, and Geoffrey William Volk.

Her ashes will be scattered in a private family service in the San Juan Islands.

— Family of Anna Belle Cole Volk

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