Wilma Louise Lightfoot

Wilma Louise (known by all as Penny) Lightfoot passed away at St. John Medical Center on June 21, 2022. Born in Tacoma, WA November 13, 1942 to Sam and Florence Wilson, she graduated from Tacoma’s Stadium High School, where she was an enthusiastic head cheerleader. She formed longtime friendships rooted in her high school years and much enjoyed attending her Stadium High School reunions.

In her twenties and the mother of two young sons, life led her to Longview, where she then resided for over 50 years. Well known in the business community, for several decades she owned and operated The Mitre Box, where she expertly framed the pictures and artwork that grace many local homes.

Penny loved all things Art and was a crafter of hand-built pottery, octopuses and whimsical chickens figuring prominently in her sculpted clay creations. She also made beautiful and eye-catching necklaces and earrings, dabbled in basketry and knitting, and did some delightful colored pencil drawings, crows being her favorite subject. She excelled creatively at everything she put her mind and hands to doing. She loved to prepare delicious food for herself and others using herbs and spices from her worldwide spice collection. She applied her artist’s eye to creating a beautiful garden around her house, and to filling her home with interesting and varied human and nature-made art (she loved seashells and was a “rock hound”), gathered throughout her life.

She was an avid reader, active in Longview’s WordFest literary group, and as a freelance writer contributed articles on a variety of topics for the Columbia River Reader. She was the much loved person of four Papillon (an English Sheepdog and two Yorkies preceding her “Paps”) and enjoyed the Papillon people friends she made throughout the USA and internationally.

Penny was a brave, spunky, “can do” woman. She enjoyed solo travel journeys by car (a sporty 1986 Mercedes hard-top convertible, which she named the “Blue Lady”), likely driving along to the “blues,” her favorite music. One of her longer car trips was for her a visually exhilarating, several-week trek in the Southwest. Southwest and Northwest Native American motifs inspired some of her beaded, clay, and jewelry creations.

She loved immersing in Nature, fishing and canoeing being her favorite outdoor activities in her younger years, making several canoe journeys with her father and other canoeing enthusiasts. In her older years, gardening provided the natural world experience that fed her soul, as did her scenic travels.

She was a giving person, giving what she could to various nonprofit organizations and causes she supported. She had deep sympathy for the downtrodden and disenfranchised. She gave her sympathetic ear to friends in need of advice or support.

Penny’s lively, special spirit, the gift of her friendship, her presence in the lives of her family and friends, are now, and will be, so much missed.

She is survived by her oldest son, Bill Lakefish (Bonney Lake, WA) and wife Angela, grandson Chase Lakefish (Aztec, NM), brother Bill Wilson (West Seattle) and wife Paula, cousin Steve Wilson (Shelton, WA) and wife Julie, and cousins George Meeks (Rosedale,WA) and Marty Meeks (Hanford, CA). She was preceded in death by her son, Rob Lakefish (Aztec, NM), father of Chase, and her brother, Samuel Wilson III (Vashon Island, WA).