Lillian Jean Stella Arper Obituary (1916

Lillian J. Arper was born January 25, 1916 in a snowstorm to Nels and Lena Liaset in the family log cabin at Keyport, WA. She passed away on November 27, 2006 in a snowstorm in Poulsbo, WA. Lillian's parents and 3 older siblings emigrated from Norway, living shortly in North Dakota, and then to living in Keyport. Lillian and 3 older siblings were born in the United States. The family worked a dairy farm on the Keyport Highway, and eventually many, including Lillian, worked at the Keyport Torpedo Station at one time or another. The original family name was Olsen, but there were so many Olsen's that the mail kept getting mixed up, so the family changed its name to Liaset, which is the area of Norway that they immigrated from. Lillian is the last of the Liasets, all the siblings have passed, and no one has passed on the family name. Lillian walked to the Keyport grade school, and then graduated from North Kitsap High School in 1935. After high school she took additional classes in bookkeeping, typing, and accounting. Lillian enjoyed traveling to Seattle to shop and visit older siblings and relatives, riding a tug that picked up passengers in Brownsville. Her older sister ran a coffee shop on Broadway at the present location of Swedish Hospital. She loved to go to Fredrick and Nelson's to shop. She met her husband Bob at Perl's in Bremerton, and they married in 1944, with their first house a converted chicken coup in Silverdale. They later moved to acreage on the Brownsville Highway. Lillian loved the large maple and fir trees that stood on the property, and would never let anyone attempt to trim the trees. She said that when they went to look at the house when it was for sale, as soon as she came up the driveway and saw the large maple, she knew that she wanted to live there. For a short time during WWII, Lillian and Bob lived in San Diego and Banning, CA, where Bob was stationed in the Navy. They returned to Silverdale in 1945. While Bob was away in the Navy, Lillian had to shovel bags of coal and run the coal business that Bob had started earlier, Silverdale Fuel and Transfer. Lillian told the story that when she needed to buy more coal; she didn't know what kind of coal to purchase, so she went to the Silverdale State Bank to ask Mr. Gordon what to buy. He told her to buy Montana coal; it was harder and burner better. Lillian kept the books and ran the office, and the business expanded into coal, fuel oil and trucking. They started and operated the first garbage business in Central Kitsap, picking up garbage and hauling it to a dump they owned off Dickey road. Over Lillian's objections, Bob sold this steady business to Brem Air to continue trucking and fuel oil. Lillian left the day-to-day office work to raise the three children, Robert, Richard and Roland. Lillian never learned to drive a car, and relied on her brothers to provide transportation quite often, as Bob was always bust with the business. After the kids had grown, Lillian returned to the business to run the office and keep the books again. They continued to operate the oil business until 1999, at which point Lillian finally obtained retirement age at 83. Bob was a charter member of the Commerical Club, which became the Silverdale Rotary Club and Lillian accompanied him to events for years until Bob's passing in 2004. Lillian was then inducted as an honorary member of the Silverdale Rotary Club. Lillian enjoyed baking and her whole family always looked forward to her bringing rolls, pies or cookies when visiting. she also enjoyed her garden and rose bushes, feeding the wild birds and following her seven grandchildren's adventures. She was proud of her Norwegian heritage, but never had the opportunity to travel to Norway to explore her roots. Lillian is survived by her three sons and daughter's in law, Robert and Karen, Richard and Carol, and Rolland and Jill; her seven grandchildren, Spencer Lucas, Brandon Arper, Alicia (Arper) Pisegna, Colin Arper, Kit Arper, Diana Arper and Austin Arper. A memorial service will be held December 2, 2006 at 11:00am at Silverdale Lutheran Church 11701 Ridgepoint Dr. Silverdale, WA 98383. Graveside services will be private.