Longtime Ocean Shores attorney John Lester Farra died last week after complications while undergoing heart surgery in Seattle, his family has confirmed.

In addition to a long legal career as a defense attorney on Grays Harbor, Farra currently is on the general election ballot as a candidate for Hospital District 2 Commission, Position 1.

The family has planned a celebration of his life, but the date has not yet been announced. More details will be published as they become available.

Farra also served as Aberdeen City Attorney and then as a city council member in Aberdeen during the 1980s before moving to Ocean Shores.

He is a 1969 graduate of Gonzaga University Law School, and started practice that same year. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington in 1965.