Shirley Ruth (Pattee) Tew

88, passed away June 22, 2015, at Martha & Mary Nursing home in Poulsbo Washington where she had resided since June, 2014. Shirley was born September 6, 1926, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She was the youngest of seven children born to Harold Fayette and Ruth Eleanor (Bayston) Pattee.On November 18, 1944, Shirley married Floyd Ralph Tew, Sr., of Shelley Idaho. They had two children, Floyd Ralph, Jr., and Kathleen Ranae. During the early years of their marriage, Floyd and Shirley farmed in the Shelley area, ran a small mercantile in Woodville, Idaho, and operated a dairy farm in Sandpoint, Idaho.In 1954, Floyd and Shirley purchased the Deer Park Livestock Auction business and an accompanying ten acres just south of Deer Park, Washington. Shirley clerked the weekly auction sales, managed the bookwork, and raised her children with a generous and loving spirit. Although she grew up as a city girl, she was a country girl at heart. She developed a passion and a knack for caring for animals, whether it be an orphaned foal, a sick calf, an injured wild rabbit, or one of the miscellany of stray cats or shelter dogs fortunate enough to find a home with her. Nipple bottles, syringes, work gloves, and homemade dog food were common staples of Shirley's kitchen.Floyd and Shirley moved to Corvalis, Montana, in 1971. Shirley worked as a veterinary assistant at the Victor Veterinary Clinic. They returned to Washington in 1972, where they remained in the auction business, at Deer park and at Colville, until 1979, at which time they purchased a forty acre farm on Dahl Road near Clayton, Washington. In addition to helping run a small cattle operation on this property, in 1980, Shirley obtained her realtor's license. She was a successful, respected real estate agent, specializing in small farms and acreage, until 2001, when she retired, at the age of 75, due to failing eyesight.Shirley lived her life according to the values frequently associated with her generation: hard work, self-sufficiency, patriotism, tradition, and love of family. She worked to earn her living alongside her husband, and on her own, well past the age of normal retirement; she flew The Flag at the many Fourth of July family picnics she hosted; as a senior citizen, she marched with the high school alumni band in the annual Deer Park Settler's Day Parade; and, she loved her husband, her children, and her grandchildren unconditionally, carrying out the chores of country life, homemaking, and child-rearing without complaint. Notably independent and hardworking, Shirley, past the age of eighty, with failing health and limited vision, was seen in her yard, on a ladder, pruning an apple tree with a chain saw.Floyd died in 1998. Shirley remained on their farm until 2005 at which time she moved to Suquamish, Washington, to be near Kathleen, who resides in Bainbridge Island, Washington. Shirley was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her six siblings, and by one grandson, Derek Estin Tew. She is survived by her two children, Floyd Ralph (Kristine) Tew, Jr., of Mead, Washington, and Kathleen Ranae (Earl) Burdette of Bainbridge Island, Washington, two grandchildren, Jennifer Faye Burdette of Seattle, Washington, and Justin Nathan Tew of Mead, Washington, and her dog, Dharsi, now in the care of Kathleen and Earl.At Shirley's request, no service will be held. To honor Shirley's life, the family suggests memorial donations to Spokanimal, Spokane, Washington, at www.spokanimal.org or to the ASPCA at www.aspca/donate