DeLilah Jean Organ
January 11, 1926 - May 13, 2019
Obituary
DeLilah Jean Organ passed away gently on May 13 in Burlington, WA with loving family by her side.
DeLilah was born in Storden, Minnesota on January 11, 1926 and within a few weeks of birth, traveled to the family wheat farm in Killam, Alberta, Canada. With the exception of three years where she would return to Storden during the Great Depression, Killam and the Stonewall Farm was her childhood home.
In 1944, at age 18, DeLilah traveled to the Aberdeen/Hoquiam area where her three older brothers and two older sisters had settled. Soon after arrival, a friend arranged a blind date with a homebound sailor, Lewis Organ. Lou never made it to the second name on his date list and married DeLilah in San Diego the following March.
DeLilah and Lou returned to Washington State after the war, living in Bremerton and then in the Skyway area of Seattle. In 1955 they moved into a new house in Burien where they resided until a promotion at Boeing for Lou required a transfer to Utah and then Cheyenne, Wyoming.
In 1965 there was a Boeing transfer back to the Seattle area where DeLilah and Lou lived in Kent and in 1968 moved to the Newport Hills area of Bellevue. Eventually, DeLilah returned to Kent and spent the last nine years in Burlington, WA near her son and daughter-in-law.
DeLilah always treasured family and special friends. Plus she had the stamina and work ethic that one would expect from a Danish farm girl. She had an entrepreneurial spirit and during an era when most women did not work, she quietly had a home-based cosmetics business, created and sold a line of in-demand custom Barbie doll clothes, worked at and eventually managed a Bellevue-based fabric store, and even in her ’70’s had a lawn/landscape maintenance business for select elderly women clients.
As one of 10 children, she had a large, extended and cherished family. For many years DeLilah and Lou were the organizers of the Nelson family picnic; they loved the gathering of siblings, children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren and friends every year. Creating fond memories was one of her specialties.
In DeLilah’s later years she rekindled a long-standing love for dancing, especially with big-band swing and Dixieland jazz music. She enjoyed traveling to dance conventions throughout the region and could often be found on the senior-center dance circuit three or four times each week. She joked about dancing to 100.
DeLilah was preceded in death by her husband Lewis in 1994 and her daughter Patricia Ann Sullivan in 2005. She is survived by son Dennis (Bonnie McFarland), grandson Alex Organ, granddaughter Grifyn Benedict (Justin), brother Duane Nelson (Lana) and nine great-grandchildren.
DeLilah’s family would like to thank the care team at Hospice of the Northwest and also thank the staff of Where The Heart Is in Burlington for their care and attention over many years.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances in her name may be made to Hospice of the Northwest in Mt. Vernon, WA