H. Sylvia (Rustad) FEENEY December 27, 1929 ~ June 1, 2010 House builder, homemaker, artist, interior designer, gourmet cook, seamstress, gardener – she did it all. If she wanted art, and she did, she created it – lots of it. If she wanted beautiful and unusual homes, with just the right interior motif and just the right gardens, she just rolled up her sleeves and forged ahead with her “signature” boundless drive until she got the job done, not once but over and over again. If she wanted fashionable attire (and she did), she filled her closets with her own hand-sewn, sometimes personally-designed, outfits. And along the way if she wanted close friends, all she had to do was pirouette, and they were everywhere marveling at her energy and creativity, and she loved them all. Born in Blabon, North Dakota, Sylvia migrated to Seattle with her Norwegian-born mother, two sisters and a brother, to escape the destitution of a depressed and desolate mid-thirties North Dakota. Settling in the Wallingford district, Sylvia attended John B. Allen elementary, Alexander Hamilton junior and, finally, Lincoln high schools before transferring to and graduating from Edmonds High School (Class of ‘47) and then going on to attend both Seattle University and the University of Washington. As a 14 year-old she launched into what would become 50 years of part and full-time employment with the Seattle Post Intelligencer (one of Seattle’s two major daily papers at the time) by sharing a part-time job with a friend. Starting in the the circulation department, she eventually moved into the editorial department, from which she retired at age 65 in 1995. In Editorial she worked as an assistant on the Action column and edited the What’s Happening feature (a listing of events “going on around town”). Following school, she married Donald M. Feeney and gave birth to their three children, Susan, Kevin and Tim. Through the years she built houses in Seattle’s Sand Point district, on Bainbridge Island’s Rockaway Beach and, finally in Suquamish (Kitsap County) where she had been in residence with her many- year domestic partner, Bob Denby, until her death. In addition to her former husband (presently living in Arizona), Sylvia is survived by her daughter Susan (Mrs. David Mikesell) of Hansville, Washington, son Kevin Feeney, of St. Louis, MO and son Tim Feeney (with his wife Kim) of Mill Creek, WA. Also surviving are grand children: Brian (wife Kristine) Mikesell, Tim (wife Meagan) Mikesell; Megan Feeney, Erin Sylvia Feeney and great-granddaughters Chloe, Cadi, Maya, and Finley Sylvia. In celebration of Sylvia’s inspirational life a memorial service conducted by Pastor Alison Shane, was held Saturday, June 5th at the Poulsbo First Lutheran Church in Poulsbo, WA.