Earl LeRoy Woodley passed away Monday, Feb. 10 at his home in Hadlock.
Earl was born August 31, 1931 in Port Townsend to George Francis Woodley and Clara Alecia Ness. He lived most of his life in the Hadlock area, living in the Seattle area for a few years when his family had moved there for work. As a young boy, he ran away several times not liking the big city and wanting to just live in Hadlock. Earl moved back to Hadlock and enrolled in Chimacum High School as a sophomore. He played on the football, basketball and baseball teams.
In his junior year, he drove the school bus on Marrowstone Island picking up and dropping off students along the way so he could have a ride to and from school. Earl graduated from CHS in 1951 and was proud to be a Chimacum Cowboy.
Earl married Marion Thacker in 1950 and together they had three children; Linnette, Jeannine and Woody. They were married for 28 years.
Earl’s first business endeavor was in the logging business. He purchased a flatbed truck to haul logs. Shortly after that, the logging slowed down so he bought a dump truck and a #2 shovel. He shoveled that truck full by hand and delivered it himself.
He also hauled many loads out to the Hood Canal Bridge project, building the approach to the bridge.
A few years later he went back into the logging business purchasing a log loader and logging trucks. He went to work loading and hauling logs for Crown Zellerbach. Earl built the business by adding more trucks until he had a total of 14. They would haul logs, dirt and wood chips. He owned the corner in Chimacum for 30 years. He built his truck shop there and spent many long nights and weekends repairing the trucks. He loved every minute of it because he loved to work. Earl loved to hunt and fish.
He enjoyed going on out-of-state hunting trips and fishing in Alaska. He was a member of the Elks and a Mason, and a very proud member of the Snohomish Tribe. Earl married Carol Fletcher December 15, 2004. Together they opened Hadlock Realty, Woodley Backhoe and Cat, and the Hadlock Motel.
In more recent years, Earl loved to travel. He and Carol took many snowmobiling and snow skiing trips. They cruised through the Panama Canal and to Hawaii, and took several road trips. Earl was preceded in death by his mother and father, Clara and George Woodley; brothers George and John Woodley; sisters Ruby Mayer, Ruth Sprague, Bernice Willard and Frankie Olin.
Earl is survived by his wife Carol; daughters Linnette Rice and Jeannine Woodley and son Woody Woodley (Jan); sister June Stotts; grandchildren Darren Rice, Kevin Rice (Elvie), Angela Ellingford (Ronnie), Aron Taylor (Jennifer), Kristy Tjemsland (Jay), David Taylor, Chad Woodley (Tyese) and Corey Woodley; 20 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild; stepchildren Jodi Long, Jim Walterscheit (Lois), Jenny Britton, Jeri Walterscheit; eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren; and lots of nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m. at the Elks Club, 555 Otto St. in Port Townsend.
In lieu of flowers, please make remembrance donations to: The Elks Scholarship fund, 555 Otto St., Port Townsend, WA 98368; The Chimacum Alumni, P.O. Box 554 Chimacum, WA 98325.
