Michelle’s Obituary Michelle Anne Sorter, age 74, passed away peacefully at her home in Sequim, Washington, on March 5, 2019, after a valiant fight with dementia. Enfolded in the love of her husband and her children, she drew her last breath in their arms. She is survived by her husband, Ron; her children, Chelle Struve and Mike (Ilsa) Struve and their sons Billy and Paco; her brother, Mike (Barb) Herrick and daughter Emily.
She was preceded in death by her beloved parents. Michelle was born September 3, 1944, in Burlington, Iowa, to Anna and Dave Herrick. Her mother enjoyed telling anyone who would listen that Michelle was born with a smile that never left her.
She attended a dozen schools as she, her mother and brother followed their father in a succession of jobs as he rose eventually to be the Director of the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station. She loved meeting new people wherever she went and had countless adventures flying with her father in his small plane, with whom she once surprised an aunt in Iowa by landing in a field behind her house. When her family lived in Alexandria, Virginia, she attended Southern Illinois University, pledging the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and always insisted she had no earthly idea how she won a beauty contest there.
She later worked at the Pentagon where she was the youngest employee with a Top Secret Eyes Only clearance. In 1967, she married Bill Struve with whom she had two children, Chelle and Mike. She was a mother foremost and forever yet found time to work in several executive positions for EF Hutton, DAW Industries and other corporations in San Diego, California.
In 1994, she married Ron Sorter. They lived in Redstone, an historic mining town of 92 souls on the Western Slope of Colorado, where she reveled in the high country. She’d snowshoe in winter with a friend with whom she had an “8 at 8” rule: if it was warmer than 8 degrees at 8 AM, they’d trek three miles into the back country then return home for coffee outside in the sun.
With her husband, she was awarded the Redstone Outstanding Community Service award for their work obtaining grants to preserve local historic sites. A fond memory of her husband is seeing her unflinching insistence to a large bear that he depart from her kitchen. Her lifelong love of books was on display in the library Ron built for her collection.
After surviving a cerebral hemorrhage in 2013, with minimal aftereffects, she was cared for by her loving husband and in 2015 they moved to Sequim and bought a home next door to her son and his family. Everyone involved with her care-caregivers, doctors, nurses and therapists-always remarked on the smile that never left her face. One of her closest friends once told her husband, “Michelle is the nicest woman I’ve ever known”.
Her absence is heartbreaking but her memory warms them as a beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother and friend. A woman’s life, wonderfully and truly lived. Services with the family have taken place.
In the future, after her husband’s death, their ashes will be commingled and final services will be held as they’re interred in Arlington. Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be sent to Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, 540 E. 8th St., Port Angeles, WA 98362 Drennan & Ford Funeral Home in Port Angeles was entrusted with her arrangements. Please sign the online guestbook for her family at www.
drennanford.com.
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