Deanna Devitt

Deanna Kay Devitt
January 4, 1940 – May 29, 2026

Deanna Kay Devitt passed away peacefully at her home on Bainbridge Island on May 29, 2026, at the age of 86. She was born on January 4, 1940, in the temporary wartime hospital set up in the Port Gamble mill supervisor's home, to Selma and Irving Weberg.

Deanna grew up in Lofall, where she spent her childhood riding horses along the logging roads of North Kitsap with her lifelong friend Barbara Cleveland, and joining her cousins Clyde, Paul, and Dennis Thorne in adventures in the woods and beaches of Eglon. She carried those stories — and a sense of humor — with her for the rest of her life, always ready to tell them again. Deanna loved to tell stories of Poulsbo’s early days — visiting her grandmother's farm on Lincoln Hill back when Poulsbo was still a small maritime town, with buildings built on pilings over the bay, and a nickel bought you two scoops of ice cream.

She raised four children: William "Dale" Blanger, David Blanger, Diane Gates, and Donna Dahlquist and three bonus children, Kyle Devitt, Darren Devitt and Allen Devitt.

Deanna built a long career with the Department of Defense, starting as a welder helper at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1966. She went on to work at the Trident Refit Facility in Bangor, retiring in 1995 after nearly three decades of service. After about a decade of retirement she returned to Federal Service traveling far and wide responding to natural disasters for FEMA.

In retirement, Deanna's curiosity and independence only grew, twice setting off in her later years to explore medieval history abroad — traveling solo to Pakistan and England to walk the ground she'd studied. She raised sheep, took part in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and delighted in being an early adopter of home computing — much to the delight of her grandkids, even when she could beat them at Nintendo games. She spent several years traveling the American Southwest in her RV before returning home to settle on Bainbridge Island.

Deanna is survived by her children William "Dale" Blanger, David Blanger, and Donna Dahlquist, her grandkids Chadwick Dahlquist, Ryan Blanger, Gerrit Dahlquist and Jolie Blanger, great-grandkids Ida and Noah Dahlquist, and the many friends and family who will remember her as sharp, independent, and endlessly pragmatic to the end.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Selma and Irving Weberg; her husbands, William Blanger and Neil Devitt; her daughter, Diane Gates; and her grandson’s Colin Dahlquist and Matthew Blanger.

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