(April 7, 2016)
Jill K. Colomb
September 12, 1947 - April 7, 2016
Jill Kathleen (Whent) Colomb passed away peacefully on April 7, 2016. She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on September 12, 1947 to Alfred Bryan and Ruth (Schick) Whent. She was the first of five siblings spending her childhood in Vancouver, Victoria and Princeton, B. C. She particularly enjoyed her summer days playing on the beaches of Boundary Bay.
The family moved to Monterey CA in 1964 where Jill completed high school, and went to work as an operator for Pacific Bell Telephone Company. She fondly remembered the many collect phone calls that she connected during those days from the service personnel on duty in Vietnam.
In the fall of 1970 she met Herb who had just returned from duty in the Mekong Delta to attend the Naval Postgraduate School. The two were married in the school's chapel during semester break in the summer of 1971. For the next 24 years Jill, Herb and their children Chad and Kristin traveled to a variety of duty stations near and far including Newport R.I., Pearl Harbor, HI, Cheyenne WY, Monterey, CA, Washington D.C., Bay St. Louis, MS and Cubi Point Naval Air Station, Republic of the Philippines. One of the highlights included watching Princess Diane land by helicopter on the Naval Observatory grounds for her visit to Washington. Also while at the observatory, she had a discussion with Barbara Bush on what type of tennis racket Jill should get for Chad.
After Herb retired from the Navy in 1995, Jill wanted to be on the west coast to be closer to her parents in Point Roberts WA, and the children in central California. So the two settled on Oregon where Herb was offered a job at the Oregon State Capitol.
Jill used her new setting to delve into some new hobbies. She traveled down to Corvallis every week to attend tole-painting classes with a close friend. She enjoyed buying dolls to place under trees for under privileged little girls. To make the dolls special she would spend several months sewing a new wardrobe for each of the dolls. Jill became active in the Assistance League of Salem. She worked in the league's Daue House Gift Shop and School Bell program, but she felt most fulfilled in being in charge of preparing the lasagna for the league's annual luncheon. In the past few years Jill has benefited from the close ties she had with the members of her PEO sisterhood. She even persuaded her two sisters to join.
Jill is survived by her husband of 45 years Herb, son Chad Colomb, daughter Kristin (Colomb) Cruz, grandson Adan Cruz, Jr., granddaughter Lillian Ruth Cruz; sisters Mary (Whent) Hodges and Janine (Whent) MacDonald, two brothers and several nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Jill's life will be 2:00pm Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at Virgil T. Golden Funeral Service. In lieu of flowers, donations for PEO scholarships are encouraged. Memories and condolences can be shared by visiting www.vtgolden.com
Published in StatesmanJournal on Apr. 10, 2016
See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesmanjournal/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=179559648#sthash.f1LSLO68.dpuf
(By Marti (Menasco) Arrell, April 13, 2016)
I do remember Jill Whent. She was a very sweet person and I was saddened to see she had passed away. We both went to work for Pacific Bell immediately after we graduated. We didn’t work many shifts together as she was almost a year older than I and because she was over 18, they gave her the really late shifts. I was only 17 and they couldn’t legally work me past 10pm. It was interesting to see how parallel our lives were. She married an officer in the navy and I married an officer in the Army who went on to pilot training. My husband got out of the service after 6 years, but continued in the reserves and made it to 23 years before he retired. Thanks so much for forwarding Jill’s obituary. It sounded like she had a happy full life.
