Rachel “Lila” Zechman Bacon passed away peacefully at home on Bells Beach on Nov. 1, 2011 surrounded by her family.
Lila was born April 24, 1917 in Seattle to Mathilda and Henry Zechman, the second to youngest of 13 children. Her first home was in Odessa where she attended classes in a one-room schoolhouse.
The family moved to Seattle when Lila entered second grade, and she went on to attend Garfield High School. Lila was the only one of her siblings to graduate from high school.
After high school she worked as a cook and housekeeper and later in retail at Frederick and Nelson’s. Lila met Herb Bacon in March of 1946 at Lois Apple’s Dance Hall, and they were married Dec. 5, 1946. As their family grew they moved to a large home on Wallingford where they lived for 30 years.
Lila was a homemaker, cooking, baking, and sewing clothes for the kids to wear to school or church, and they would often hear her playing the piano and singing as they came home from school. She volunteered with Girl Scouts, PTA, as Keystone Congregational Church Deaconess and choir member, and she sang with “The Mother Singers of Seattle”.
Travel was an important part of her and Herb’s lives. From Europe to the Holy Land to the Mediterranean to Alaska, and throughout the U.S. and Canada, they travelled with family and friends, and made many new friends. Hawaii was a favorite destination, and they celebrated their 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries there with family.
They moved in 1980 to the home they built on Bell’s Beach, a site of many vacations and weekend trips for the family since the late 1950s.
On Whidbey Lila has been a member of PEO, the Whidbey General Hospital Guild, the Baby Island Community Club, the 30/40 Dance Club, and Langley Methodist Women’s Fellowship.
They spent 20 winters in Florence, Arizona enjoying the warmer weather and the social life that was available in the snow bird community.
Lila is survived by her husband of nearly 65 years, Herb Bacon; son Michael Bacon of Seattle; daughter Janice Massey (husband Jim) of Tulsa, Okla.; daughter Carol Clark (husband Randy) of Prescott, Ariz.; daughter Sue Riney (husband Jim) of Oak Harbor; nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
There will be a memorial service at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at Langley Methodist Church with a reception immediately following.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to The Whidbey Playhouse, at 730 SE Midway Blvd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277, or to Friends of Home Health Care at PO Box 1877, Oak Harbor, WA 98277.
