Georgia K. Cockle's Obituary
Georgia Kay (Vandersluis) Cockle graduated to be with her Lord and Savior on 1 March 2019 at age 72 with family by her side while residing at Linden Grove Health Center in Puyallup, WA. She was born 25 September 1946 to George and Kathleen (Walker) Vandersluis in Tacoma, Washington. Georgia grew up at 4510 East C, Tacoma and attended Mary Lyon Elementary, Stuart Junior High and Lincoln Senior High School in Tacoma. After graduation from Lincoln in 1965, she briefly attended Pacific Lutheran University before transferring to Washington State University in Pullman, WA. It was while at WSU she met her husband Johnny Cockle. She graduated from WSU with a BA in Education on 8 June 1969. She and Johnny were married on 14 June 1969 after their graduation from WSU and his commissioning as a Marine Corps officer. Georgia and her husband spent the next the next twenty years as a Marine family traveling the country. Their son Douglas was born in Twentynine Palms, CA in 1970 and their daughter Michelle arrived while assigned to duty in Seattle in 1973. Then in 1976 their family increased by two when their niece and nephew, Kathy and Tom McKinney, joined them in Ocean Side, CA after the death of Georgia's sister Ginney in 1976. Georgia and Johnny returned to the Seattle/Tacoma area from Virginia shortly after Michelle's high school graduation in 1991. She and Johnny finally settled in the Parkland area of Pierce County in 2002. She is survived by her husband, their four children, her brother Steven Vandersluis and numerous nieces and nephews.
Georgia was a beautiful wife and a a fun-loving mother who encouraged all her children to achieve their goals. As a teacher, she loved being with children, especially the younger ones. Georgia was a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader when Doug and Michelle were younger and made sure they were taken to softball, baseball, soccer, dance lessons, swimming lessons and volunteered in their classrooms as a room mother. During her twenty years as a Marine wife she made every duty station transfer an adventure for the kids. As her health began to fail her faith in her Lord and Savior grew and provided strength to the family. She was greatly loved and will be missed.
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