Obituary: Bisson, Shirley Elizabeth
(Lake) Richardson
July 11,1918 - November 19,2011
Shirley Elizabeth Lake was born in Wenatchee WA, on July 11, 1918, to Cora Elizabeth Estes Lake and Ernie Fremont Lake.
She spent her childhood playing with her numerous cousins at her grandparents wheat ranch on Badger Mountain, and in Wenatchee, on her parents apple orchard, and swimming in the Columbia River.
Shirley attended Wenatchee High School, graduating in 1936.
By then, her parents had moved to East Wenatchee and opened Lakes Grocery Store, where she worked during high school and college summers.
For one year, Shirley attended Cottey College in Missouri, then transferred to the University of Washington, continuing as an art major.
There she met Gordon Ward Richardson who she married in 1939.
They moved to Issaquah, where Shirley taught kindergarten for several years during the war, on an emergency certificate.
Her oldest son, Gordon, Jr., was born in 1943.
After the war, Shirley and family bought a grocery store in Bozeman, MT, and moved there to run it.
In 1948, the family moved to Spokane to join the family bottling plant.
Brian, the second son, was born in 1948 and a daughter Susan in 1949.
Shirley lived in Spokane until about 1986 when she moved back to the Wenatchee Valley (Cashmere) to be closer to her mother Cora.
Shirley was preceded in death by her father Ernie in 1961, her brother Gordon Lake in 1963, her husband Gordon Richardson in 1979, her mother Cora in 1993, and her second husband, Edgar Bisson in 1996.
Shirley is survived by her sons, Gordon Ward Richardson, Jr. of Decatur IL, and Brian Franklin Richardson (Barbara Matheson) of Cashmere WA and her daughter Susan Ellis (Don) of Twin Lakes ID, her two granddaughters, Crystal Bickford and Amber Richardson, and two great-grandchildren, Tyler and Holly Bickford.
Shirley left a rich legacy - of her artwork, close family and friends and her engaging personality.
Shirley was a “mom” to many besides her three children, sharing her life and home with them.
We celebrate her life in the way she lived - with exuberance, joy, and looking forward to what comes next.
A memorial in honor of Shirley will be held Wednesday, July 11, 2012, at the home of Don and Susan Ellis at N. 21867 Dellar Beach Lane, Twin Lakes, Idaho 83858 at 2:00pm.