Olive Maywood Myers Easterwood
March 24, 1914 – August 19, 2011
Olive Maywood Myers Easterwood, daughter of Bainbridge Island pioneers, passed away on August 19, 2011, in Eugene, Oregon. She was 97.
Olive was the third child and second daughter of Oliver Leander Myers and Laura Maywood McQuarrie Myers, both of Queens County, Prince Edward Island. Her parents moved to the Island in 1898. They purchased 20 acres at the Head of the Bay in 1907 and operated a dairy farm there for many years.
Olive was born on the family farm in 1914. She knew a Bainbridge much different from that of today: at times, she rode her horse to school; in the fall she smelled the smoke from the nearby Indian smokehouses; she knew almost no one who lived on the remote north end of the Island. Olive’s parents brought the second car to Bainbridge, a Model T Ford. When Olive was asked recently for a favorite childhood memory, she recalled bouncing happily on her mother’s lap as her Dad drove the Ford along bumpy roads to the lumber mill at Port Blakely to deliver milk.
Olive graduated from Bainbridge High School with the class of 1932. In her high school years she worked at the strawberry cannery at the end of Weaver Road near the Head of the Bay. With those earnings and a scholarship, she attended Whitman College in Walla Walla. Later she transferred to Western Washington College of Education (now WWU) where she earned her teaching degree.
Olive went on to teach school for nearly 40 years, a career she loved. She taught kindergarten in the Seattle School District for many years. A colleague of hers once observed, “I never heard a cross word in Olive’s classroom.”
Olive married Henry Oliver Easterwood of Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1945. They moved from the Island to Seattle where they raised two girls, Cheryl and Laura. They spent summers on the Island at the family farm. Olive enjoyed picking wild blackberries in her secret patches, always in friendly competition with Mickie Cooper. With her sister, Emma Swedine, she canned fruit and produce grown on the Swedine farm on New Sweden Road. Her home, whether in Seattle or on Bainbridge, was always a magnet for children because of her warm and welcoming personality.
After retiring, Olive and Henry spend winters in Arizona where Olive was an active community volunteer. Henry passed away in 1982. Olive then met Hal Squires of Vancouver, BC, and they traveled together extensively. In between these wonderful trips, Olive was a frequent visitor to Alaska and to New York to see her daughters and their families.
Olive’s health remained extraordinary until she broke her leg in July, 2011. Her family credits her longevity to her amazing, positive attitude, her kindness, and her courage and determination.
Olive is survived by daughter Cheryl Easterwood of Eugene, Oregon and her husband Thom Landgreen; daughter Laura Corsun of White Plains, New York and her husband Steve Corsun. She is also survived by her grandchildren Hilary, Alexander, Reba, Meryl and Alison and by her niece, Elida O’Brien and her husband Joe O’Brien of Bainbridge. Olive would also want to mention a couple who were special in her life, Jerry and Judie Elfendahl of Bainbridge.
Olive leaves a legacy of kindness, caring, humor and strength which will live on for generations to come. Remembrances may be made to the Bainbridge Island Historical Society.
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