Jill Pembroke

Jill Pembroke died Sept. 23 at her home on Bainbridge Island after a long battle with cancer. She was 56.

She was born March 5, 1948 in Libertyville, Ill., to William Lyman and Susan (Beach) Miller.

She attended Northern Illinois University and earned two degrees in English literature.

She worked in public relations for 20 years, starting with Burson Marsteller in Chicago before moving to Portland, Ore. in 1986 to work for what is now Waggener Edstrom.

She left in 1993 to take a job with Central Point Software. When that company was purchased a year later, she decided to start a business “rather than become a part of another feckless bureaucracy.”

As a small company, Pembroke Resources was one of the first to leverage use of the Internet to communicate with clients and the media.

She lived in the Silverton area from 1992 to 2000. During this time her company employed and trained several local workers, teaching them how to make a living on the Internet.

She moved herself and her business to Bainbridge Island in April 2000, shortly before her cancer diagnosis. She was active in the company before the illness forced her to retire.

She was known for her skewed sense of humor; one of her favorite jokes during her recent treatment had to do with a doctor with a thermometer behind his ear.

She also owned more than 30 cars and found an appropriate name for each one, most recently a Toyota she called Dingle. She also had four cats and two dogs.

She is survived by her husband, Charlie Bermant of Bainbridge Island; daughter and son-in-law, Jessica and Danny Anslinger of Boise, Idaho; her mother, of North Fort Meyers, Fla.; cousin Teresa Smith of Beavercreek, Ore.; and aunts Dorothy Blahuta, Laurie Gable and Florence Chiodo, all of Oregon.

Her father and brother, William Lyman Miller III, preceded her in death.

Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.For additional information, contact charlie@pemboke.com