Yolanda Lea “Charlene” Estes passed away peacefully Nov. 29, 2014 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma while visiting her granddaughter Kyrie for Thanksgiving.

Charlene was born on Sept. 24, 1935 in Seattle to Charles A. Stewart and Helen F. Camiano. Her Scots father was the sheriff of Cochise County, and owned service stations and a sporting goods store, and her mother was a first generation Italian immigrant whose family members were copper miners in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then Bisbee, Arizona.

Charlene was raised in West Seattle after her parents returned from Valdez, Alaska where they had spent a year sluicing for gold. She attended Fauntleroy Elementary School. Her father operated the Paramount Service Station in downtown Seattle and in other locations, before returning to southern Arizona.

She was a 1952 graduate of Douglas (Arizona) High School, the 1954 Miss Arizona in the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of X-Ray Technology that same year. She also attended Arizona State University, and was a flight attendant for America Airlines in the late 1950s.

She enjoyed riding horses, traveling and raising her children in Tucson. Her husband Don served in the Marine Corps and for many years was a lawyer in Tucson. She spent many summers on Bainbridge Island enjoying the Grand Old Fourth festivities and watching her grandchildren play in Little League All Star tournaments.

She was preceded in death by her husband L. Donald Estes (1932-1988), and her parents.

She is survived by her children, Stewart A. Estes of Bainbridge Island, Julie E. Basinger (Mike) of Elgin, Arizona, and Katherine A. “Katie” Eisenhauer (Howard) of Cincinnati, Ohio; her eight grandchildren Jacob C. Estes, Andrew D. Estes, Kayla L. Estes, Alyssa N. Estes, Kyrie D. Coon (Billy), Charles Kohl Eisenhauer, Graham K. Eisenhauer and Kristian W. Eisenhauer; and her sister Geraldine R. “Jerri” Toci.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the American Society Prevention Cruelty Animals where she volunteered (www.aspca.org).