Elsa Warrick, age 89, a Bainbridge resident for nearly 80 years, died in her sleep April 15 in Friday Harbor.

She was born March 19, 1914 to Anne and Julius Tsirul (Joe Serol) in a tiny settlement near Blagaveshensk, Siberia. Her Latvian parents had fled their Russian-controlled country several years earlier via the newly opened Trans-Siberian Railroad.

By 1919, the little family settled on Bainbridge Island, where she lived for nearly 80 years. Her father established a dairy farm in Eagledale, and as a small child she rode along in her father’s horse-drawn wagon delivering fresh milk and cream to Port Blakely families.

While a teenager, she acquired a retired racehorse named Prince Grattane that was her pride and joy throughout her twenties.

After graduation from high school and a business college in Seattle she did secretarial work.

She also learned to figure skate in her spare time — she met her future husband Willard, a hockey player, when he scooped her up after a spill.

They married in 1940 and had two children, Melanie and Jon.

The couple settled on Bainbridge close to her family; her parents lived “up the hill,” the in-laws in a cottage next door, her sister, brother-in-law and their children right across the road. Her home and yard were often filled with laughter and the neighborhood children.

She appreciated the simple joys of life, whether it was gardening, leading children on snow hikes, picking huckleberries in the mountains and mushrooms in the forest, or entertaining friends of all ages.

She made vats of sauerkraut, pressed gallons of fresh apple juice, “baked up a storm,” and gave it all away.

In her later years, she and her husband spent many happy hours fishing the lakes of Kitsap County. The freezer was full of trout, and their cat got one for breakfast every day.

A few years after the death of her husband in 1990, she moved to Friday Harbor, where she delighted in walking to town every day. She often visited her daughter Melanie and Lee Lange on Henry Island, enjoying clamming, hiking and sailing in the San Juans.

A debilitating dementia caused her to live for a time at Parkside Special Care Alzheimer’s Community in Sedro Woolley. There she liked going outside to walk whenever she pleased.

For the last year and half of her life, she resided at Island Convalescent Center in Friday Harbor.

She was preceded in death by her sister, Hellen Rollins. She is survived by her daughter, Melanie Hester of Henry Island; son Jon Warrick of Bremerton; granddaughters Jennifer Warrick and Wendy Moses and their children.

At her request, no services will be held. A celebration of her life is planned for a later date.