Retha Bogle

was 93 years young. She was an active charter member of Englewood Christian Church. In the

early years of the church she loved working in the daycare with the many babies and small

children, the members entrusted in her care. Retha, was a proud member of The Daughters of The American Revolution.

Retha (Casey) Bogle was born in Pyatt, Arkansas on September 2, 1919 to the parents

of Will Casey and Ader (Price) Casey. She grew up within a large, proud southern family of six

brothers and sisters. She attended the local one room school house, where she excelled

academically, and like many of that time she left school to help the family. One of her favorite sayings was “I never went to college but I paid for 5”. During the Great Depression

her family lived the deprivation, uncertainty, poverty of the classic Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Hard times would force most farm families into bankruptcy; the Casey family headed west looking for a new beginning. When the family finally settled in Washington, she

was reacquainted with a strapping young man named Elza Bogle, whose family was also from

Pyatt. In 1936, she finally gave in and said yes to this smitten young man and they were

married June 10 of that year. With little work available in the Yakima valley, the newlyweds

packed everything they owned and headed south where they worked in the fruit orchards and

fields of California. With harvest finished in California, they headed north to Walla Walla. Elza

was quickly hired as a fence line rider and foreman in the pea fields for fall harvest. During

WWII, the young couple bought an apple orchard in Cowiche, Washington, that they proudly

farmed for the next 40 + years. In 1950 they built and finished a 3 story farm house where

they would raise their family and live for over half a century. In 1980, Retha and Elza sold the

orchard, but continued to live in the farm house. The sale of the orchard enabled them to travel extensively throughout Europe, the Caribbean and Hawaii. In 2000 Retha realized the house and the

acreage was too much for her and the family to maintain, so she moved in to Yakima and lived

13 more years in the big city and Valley View.

Retha is survived by her Son, Kenneth Bogle of Seattle, wife Julia (Thayer); Daughter, Linda J. Rodgers of Yakima; 3 Grandchildren, Benjamin Bogle, Jim (Tracy) Tuttle, Teresa (Dennis) Cooper; 4 Great-Grandchildren, Tevor and Megan Tuttle, Victoria and Jessica Cooper of Yakima; Her Sisters, Dorothy Jo Iverson of SeaTac and Joy B. Witherell of Yakima.

Retha was preceded by her husband, Elza Bogle on May 3, 1996; sister, Ruth A. Smith of Spokane, brothers, Ulis Casey and Ewell Casey of Tieton.

Keith & Keith Funeral Home will have Visitation Sunday, March 24, 2013 from noon to 4:00 p.m. with a Funeral Service Monday, March 25th at 11:00 a.m. at Keith & Keith Ninth Avenue Chapel with burial to follow at Terrace Heights Memorial Park. To share a memory of Retha, visit www.keithandkeith.com