Nurse, artist remembered for her inner grace

Published 10:41 pm Saturday, May 31, 2008

Described as a perfect friend by many, Shirley Facey was put to the test on a hunting trip.

She helped her pal, Pat Ackerman, retrieve a purse that accidentally fell down the hole in an outhouse.

“That is the mark of true friendship,” Ackerman said. “Amazing what you can catch with a fishing pole.”

Facey, 69, was a psychiatric nurse for Compass Health in Mukilteo for many years. Friends said she offered a receptive ear.

Bob Fink knew Facey as a nurse at the inpatient psychiatric unit at Everett General Hospital when he was the medical director.

“She was a calm, loving, caring woman whose countenance shed this feeling onto everyone,” Fink said. “I worked with her in multiple settings and she was always the same rock-solid, loving, caring, very special person.”

Shirley Ann Facey of Marysville died March 19. She was born to Olga and John Husby on April 18, 1938, in Ewin, Mich. On June 27, 1958 she married Lloyd “Art” Facey.

They were happily married for almost 50 years, he said.

It was sad she passed in the springtime, he said, because she embraced that season as a sweet time of year.

Her mother was one of three Dahl sisters, Clara, Olga and Osa, from Michigan. Two married brothers. Her mother, Olga, is 98 and lives in a rest home in Everett.

It appeared the family had longevity, but Facey’s husband said a bad habit changed that: “She died of cigarette smoking,” he said. “That’s the story. And she was a nurse, for God’s sake.”

He hopes that his wife’s story will influence even one person to quit smoking.

Facey met his spouse, who went to Everett High School, when they both worked at the Boeing Co. He noticed her, then they both attended a dance in Silvana.

In the parking lot, he told her he would bring her a beverage Monday on the job.

He got her coffee, and nine months later they were married.

“She was unassuming,” he said. “She put other people’s feelings first.”

His artistic wife could capture nature, the perspective of light and facial features in her work, he said.

For fun, Shirley Facey loved to shop for antiques, people watch at malls, visit the ocean, observe nature and read. She dressed conservatively and wouldn’t think of leaving the house without her hair just so.

Shirley Ann Facey is survived by her husband; her son, Jeffery Facey; daughters Lorie Facey and Sara and Greg Wickline; and her grandchildren, Heather and Abbey Facey and Tyler and April Wickline. She also leaves behind her beloved friend and only sister, Rosemary Brennis of Snohomish; her mother; and many nieces and nephews and family members.

She was preceded in death by her father, John Husby.

Her husband plans to donate artwork she cherished, drawn by psychiatrist Shirley Stallings of Everett, to the chemotherapy area at Providence Regional Cancer Partnership in Everett.

It’s a soft, quiet picture of a flower.

His wife lived her life with an inner grace, he said, as well as beauty and strength.

She will missed by all that were touched by her soul, he added.

Reporter Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.