Antoinette ‘Toni’ Poulsen

March 18, 1918 — June 12, 2014

Antoinette A. (Toni) Poulsen, (March 18, 1918-June 12, 2014) widow of Edward Poulsen, died at her home in Friday Harbor, Wash. Toni was born in Chewelah. She earned a BA in teaching from Washington State University and MA from UCLA. In addition, she did graduate work at UC Berkeley and at the University of Washington.

Toni taught French at the Annie Wright Seminary in Tacoma before serving as an interpreter for the Office of War Information in London and Paris from 1944-46. After the war, she studied at the University of Grenoble.

She joined the Foreign Language Department at Washington State University in 1947, where she rose to the rank of professor. In 1966, she was named outstanding faculty woman by the Associated Women Students.

Toni belonged to Phi Kappa Phi, national scholastic honorary, Phi Lambda Theta, women’s educational honorary, the American Association of Teachers of French, and the Washington State Foreign Languages Teachers’ Association. Upon retiring, the Poulsens moved to Friday Harbor in 1976.

Toni was an active member of the community, participating in a French language club, the AAUW and the Unitarian fellowship, volunteering at the library and reading weekly to a lady with failing sight. She loved playing music and scrabble, poetry and language, discussing politics, bird watching and hiking with friends. She will be greatly missed by her family and all her friends.

Toni is survived by her niece, Susan Escherich of Riverside R.I. and her nephew, Joel Arnold of Austin, Texas, and by their children and grandchildren, as well as her nieces Patti Matthis and Nancy Poulsen of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Donations in Toni’s memory may be made to the Friends of the San Juan Public Library or any of the many causes she supported: the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU, the National Parks Conservation Association or the National Trust for Historic Preservation, among others.

— Family of Antoinette Poulsen