Sherry Goulter

Dorothy Imogene Shariance "Sherry" Burnett Goulter, 85, of Oysterville died quietly at home on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013, in the arms of her loving husband and sweetheart of 45 years, Edwin R. "Bud" Goulter. Born in Coffeyville, Kansas on October 1, 1928, she was the daughter of Opal (Arrington) and Francis Maude (Ramsey) Burnett, and was of Cherokee Indian descent. She moved west in the 1960s and worked for the telephone company in Santa Barbara, California and at the Boeing Company in Seattle. Sherry met Bud in Portland and moved to Oysterville in 1968, where she cared for his farm and animals during his absences as an oyster trucker. They were married in the Oysterville Church and lived their entire married life on the Goulter farm at the base of Stackpole Road. For more than 40 years, Sherry raised, fostered and loved many generations of cattle. She fed and milked the cows, helped to birth the calves, and could often be seen (stick in hand) moving the herd between pastures up and down Stackpole Road at various times of the year. Older Peninsula residents remember buying milk and eggs from her for many years. Sherry worked at P.A.C.E. on the Peninsula for several years until an accident that seared her lungs and nearly cost her her life forced her to quit. For over 20 years she served on the Pacific County elections board, organizing and operating the Oysterville School House voting precinct until voting was done by mail. Sherry was a mainstay of the Oysterville Community Club for decades, served on the board and helped run the community dinners that were part of Oysterville life in the 1980s. She had a deep interest in people; she and her husband befriended, helped raise and fostered a number of young people, never losing touch with them through the years. Her interest in the world around her, both on the Peninsula and worldwide, was deep, her laughter contagious, and her friendships lasting, profound and intense. In her last years her health slowly deteriorated; she battled emphysema and congestive heart disease, breathing was often difficult and she became terribly weak. But she had bounced back from an almost unendurable low point a few months before her death with a sudden resurgence of energy and spirit that surprised everyone who knew and interacted with her. Sherry had always been a worker, and she became active once again on the Community Club Board and at home she was knitting, cooking, cleaning, even washing windows inside and out. Her friends had never seen her happier. Then suddenly her poor heart gave out and her time had come. When death came it took her gently. She was preceded in death by her only son, Russell Gordon Hurd, and is survived by her husband Bud Goulter. In lieu of a service, there will be a potluck celebration of Sherry's life at the Oysterville School House beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dececember 7, 2013 to which all who knew and loved her are invited.