Lillian Vera Strandley Orlando Lamb's Obituary
Lillian was born in 1931 to Warner and Ida Strandley. She died on November 20, 2022, at the age of 91. She lived in her own residence until July 2022 at which time she moved to the cottages at Edgewood. In 1993, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and given six months to live. With her strong will and Scandinavian heritage, she lived 29 years beyond the doctor’s prediction.
Lillian was one of 14 children and grew up in the Puyallup area. She graduated from Puyallup High School in 1949 where she was a majorette and showed her a baton skill at an early age.
When she married in 1952, she moved to University Place and later to Pt. Fosdick. She returned to Puyallup in 1979. She worked for Rhodes department store, Tacoma General Hospital, Puget Sound Hospital, and finally at Western State Hospital in the admissions unit. She was a skilled medical stenographer and typist. She also taught baton twirling to young children in the University Place area in the 1960s.
Lillian married twice and outlived both of her husbands. Her first husband, Bob Orlando, died on October 19, 2021. Her second husband, Buck Lamb, died on November 27, 2001. Both are buried at Tahoma National Cemetery, where she will also be buried.
She loved to cook and bake and was famous for her pie crust. She loved to pull taffy with the neighbor kids and to make popcorn balls. A holiday meal usually involved turkey, roast, lasagna, and cake or pie. You never left the table hungry.
She loved to swim and two of her homes had swimming pools. She loved to ride bikes and was still riding her bike in her early 70s. She loved young children and could always get them to smile and laugh.
In July 2021 she tragically lost her daughter Cynthia to a heart problem and long Covid. That loss was devastating to her and up until her death she refused to believe that Cindy had died.
Lillian is survived by her son Judge James Orlando and wife Kristen, her daughter Teresa Coons and husband Chris, her sisters Evelyn and Charlotte, and her brother Leonard. She is also survived by nine grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Arrangements have been made for a private ceremony at Mountain View with later burial at Tahoma National Cemetery.
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