Shirley Anne Coffin
Shirley Anne Coffin was born to Albert Victor Quine and Dorothy Amelia Hull Quine on October 4, 1934, in Boulder, Colorado, the eldest of four daughters. Her father was a mining engineer. Shirley spent her early school years at the Cornucopia Mine in the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon. Her first "school bus" was a horse-drawn sled that went from cabin to cabin, collecting the children of the miners to take them to their one-room schoolhouse. At the onset of WW II, Shirley's family moved to Portland where her father was employed at the Kaiser shipyards on Swan Island. She attended Beaumont and Fernwood grade schools, then Grant High School through her sophomore year. In 1950, the family moved to Northport, Washington, a small timber, and mining community near the U.S.-Canadian border. In 1952, Shirley graduated from Northport High School in a senior class of 12 students and entered Whitman College, majoring in biology. In the summers of 1953 and 1954, she worked as a fire lookout on Flagstaff Mountain in Stevens County, Washington where she honed her skills of self-sufficiency and developed a strong bond with the natural world. In her senior year at Whitman, she was editor of The Pioneer, the campus newspaper. She graduated in the spring of 1956 with a BA in biology, earning several academic honors, including election to Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board. Following her graduation from Whitman, she worked one summer as a reporter for the Walla Walla Union Bulletin.
In the Fall of 1956, she began two years of graduate studies in Biology at the University of Oregon in Eugene, working also as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Biology. In June of 1958, she was awarded a master's degree in Biology and certification for secondary science teaching in Oregon. It was that same spring, during Shirley's last term at Oregon, when an unlikely combination of circumstances led her to meet Bob Coffin, a graduating senior. Shirley and Bob soon discovered they shared many common interests that would unite them in their future life together. They were married on July 20, 1958, in Riverton, Wyoming, where Shirley's family had moved after their time in Northport. For their honeymoon, Bob and Shirley set out to camp their way from Riverton to Mexico City, then back to Eugene, Oregon, where Bob started his own graduate studies. The honeymoon trip, camping and hiking at National Parks and Monuments—Rocky Mountain, Arches, Mesa Verde, Carlsbad Cavern, El Salto (in Mexico), Grand Canyon, and Zion—served to set a direction in their entire married life: Camping, hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and canoeing became the go-to activities for their growing family. Son Daniel was born in April of 1959 while Bob was in graduate school and Shirley substitute-taught in the Eugene school system. In early 1960, they moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico, where Bob was employed at Holloman Air Force Base on the White Sands Missile Range. In September of 1960, son Christopher joined the family. In August of 1962, Bob accepted an offer to establish a computer facility at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center near Aloha. The family moved to Beaverton, then to Aloha, where daughter Laura joined her two brothers in May of 1963. Daughter Jennifer arrived in August of 1968, just after the family had moved to the Cedar Mill area—to the home Shirley and Bob would nurture together for the next 54 years.
By mutual agreement with Bob, Shirley was not employed outside the home during their kids' early school years, so that she could be home whenever the children returned from school. Nevertheless, she played an active role as a volunteer and organizer. Kindergartens were not then part of the public school system. This prompted Shirley to help organize a private cooperative kindergarten program in the Beaverton area, which prepared children for success in the early grades of public school. She became a volunteer within the Beaverton Schools public system as well. Deeply committed to environmental issues—and inspired by the Oregon Bottle Bill—Shirley created engaging exhibits and offered classroom presentations on the fundamentals of recycling and energy conservation, geared toward young children. From 1972-79, she was known as the "garbage lady," and among her most treasured mementos are the many letters of appreciation she received from students throughout Washington County. Shirley's environmental contributions went well beyond the classroom. She was instrumental in organizing a monthly recycling collection at her local school. This project lasted for ten years and served as a model for other neighborhoods until recycling became a mainstream, curbside reality. Shirley was honored by the Oregon Environmental Council at their 1974 annual banquet for her outstanding community service. She was a charter founder of the Association of Oregon Recyclers, whose goal was to bring recycling out of the realm of "hippiedom" and into the mainstream of Oregon citizenship. In that capacity, she served for 18 years on the Solid Waste Advisory Committee of Washington County, helping to guide the county on policies of garbage collection and curbside recycling. As her kids grew into their older school years, Shirley began to substitute in secondary science and special education classes in the Beaverton school system. She taught for over 20 years, retiring in 1998.
Shirley and Bob spent their retirement years in study, hobbies, and travel, visiting their kids at their homes, organizing extended family get-togethers, and enjoying the vacation home they shared with her three sisters and families on the beautiful waterfront of Vancouver Island near Campbell River, British Columbia. Shirley leaves an enduring legacy of caring: for family and friends, for the human community, for the natural world. She embraced cousins, nephews, and nieces far and wide; kept bonds with her "Ya-Ya" Delta Delta Delta sisters of college days; and embraced her circle of dear friends as extended family—for whom there was always a warm place in her heart and at her table. She was a faithful chronicler with her camera and her calendar, ever mindful of the briefness and passage of time. Her albums and weekly planners became the journals of her beloved home and family, the life she cherished.
Shirley died on November 1, 2022, at her home in Cedar Mill surrounded by her loving family. She is survived by her sister Judy McCormick, her husband of 64 years, Bob, and their four children, six grandsons, three granddaughters, and three great granddaughters.
A private family memorial will be held in the Spring. The family suggests memorials to The Nature Conservancy, The Sierra Club or other charity of the donor's choice.
