Annette Herber

passed away peacefully in her sleep shortly after her 86th birthday, surprising all who loved her and her lively mind, bright spirit, and youthful step.Annette had an indomitable capacity to welcome people with open arms into her life and family; her absence is almost incomprehensible.She was a person who grasped joy wherever she could find it (and made some if none was around for the taking), and she never stopped looking for new things to learn or do. After raising five children, Annette returned to college to earn her degree in nutrition (finally casting her use of her children as nutrition experiments into a more legitimate light).In her later years, she threw herself into her passions for music, gardening, learning Spanish, and searching for the vitamin combination that would solve life's mysteries.Her lifelong partnership with John, her husband of 56 years, still serves as the model for love and devotion to those she leaves behind, especially her five children and their spouses, and her ten grandchildren and their growing families, including three great-grandchildren (with another on the way).Most of all, Annette leaves behind a legacy to her extensive family and friends of dogged independence, unconditional acceptance, earnest kindness, and a freezer full of ice cream.A memorial will be held for Annette at the Waterfront Park Community Center, 370 Brien Dr. SE on Bainbridge Island at 3:00 P.M. on August 5.