Ilene Wood Klein passed away on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, at Pacific Care Center in Hoquiam at the age of 95. She was born on June 30, 1921, to Edwin K. and Emma (Matthys) Wood at Raymond, Wash. Her family moved to Hoquiam in 1923 when her father helped construct and become the superintendent of the Grays Harbor Veneer Plant in Hoquiam.

Ilene attended the Hoquiam schools and graduated in 1939. She was always proud of Hoquiam’s 1939 basketball team which won the State Championship. She enjoyed working on their class reunions for over 60 years.

She attended Central Washington State College in Ellensburg and earned a Washington State Teachers Certificate, later completing her sixth year of college. She had served Central as a volunteer new student recruiter. In 1942, at the age of 21, she started her teaching career in Littlerock, Wash. where she taught for three years. While there, during World War II, she was an airplane spotter and an air raid warden.

In 1945 she returned home to Hoquiam to teach at Emerson School, mostly teaching first grade.

She met Hoquiamite, Joseph C. Klein and they were married on Aug. 14, 1954, at the Our Lady of Good Help Catholic Church in Hoquiam. She took several years leave from teaching in the late 1950’s to start raising her family. Ilene also taught for several years at the Wishkah Valley School where Joseph taught for twenty years. Ilene later returned to teach in Hoquiam, retiring from Emerson School in 1980.

In addition to teaching, they were Ocean Spray cranberry growers at a bog in the North Bay area, west of Hoquiam for some forty years.

She enjoyed attending athletic events, traveling, reading, dining out, visiting with friends, and especially spending many winters in Yuma, Ariz. She was known as an especially friendly person who would make an effort to strike up a conversation with strangers and was always cheerful to everyone she met.

Ilene was a very active club member participant. She was a charter member of the Hoquiam Emblem Club, a member of the Educational Honorary Society, Delta Kappa Gamma; a member of the local, state and national Retired Teachers Associations, along with the North Bay Cranberry Club. She also served on the Board of the Polson Museum in Hoquiam. She was always active in kid’s activities including the Campfire Girls Council and helping Cub Scout Packs.

She was a longtime member of the Our Lady of Good Help Catholic Church in Hoquiam and Saint Jerome Catholic Church at Hogan’s Corner.

Ilene is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Edwin Joseph Klein and Gretchen Klein of Hoquiam; a daughter and son-in-law, Barbara Ilene Klein and Warren Smith of Seattle, three grandchildren, Grant Klein of Ballard, Wash., Kramer Klein of Olympia and Kelsey Klein of Iowa City, Iowa; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives.

Her husband, Joseph preceded her in death, passing away on his 75th birthday, May 23, 1992.

Donations may be sent to the Grays Harbor YMCA, 2500 Simpson Avenue, Hoquiam, WA 98550; to the Hoquiam High School Scholarship Fund, Grays Harbor Community Foundation, P.O. Box 615, Hoquiam, WA 98550; to any Catholic Charity or to your favorite organization.

A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 3, 2017, in the Coleman Mortuary Chapel. Concluding service with vault interment will follow in the Sunset Memorial Park in Hoquiam.

Direction is by the Coleman Mortuary, 422 – 5th Street in Hoquiam, Wash.

Please take a few precious moments of your time to record your comments for the family by signing the on-line register at www.colemanmortuary.net.