Ramona Hinkle

Ramona Hinkle, aged 96, died August 10 surrounded by family. Born on July 25, 1930, in Oakland, California to Ines (Daum) and Milton Robertson, she was the oldest and last remaining one of five siblings. Ramona met Richard G. Hinkle when she attended the small high school in Tahoe, Ca. where his mother was teacher and principal. They married in 1950 in Lafayette, Ca. and made plans to raise a large family. They had seven children in total and Ramona put off having a career outside the home as the family moved every few years according to the whims of the U.S. Army in which Richard was enlisted. In 1963, she decided it was time to settle down and, with the help of her mother who was living in Friday Harbor at the time, found a house on the corner of South Bay and Pleasant Glade Road, Olympia, Washington. She returned to Ft. Ord, they packed up the family, and we moved to our “forever” home while the oldest children were beginning junior high. Ramona found a spiritual home at Westminster Presbyterian Church and was very active as a Sunday School teacher. She and Richard were active members of a sharing group there in the 80’s when they had grandchildren, sharing childcare and dinners and going on family backpacking trips together. In the late 1960s, she went to college for a teaching certificate and obtained a job at Ft. Lewis teaching 5th graders which she thoroughly enjoyed. When Richard was posted to Seoul, South Korea beginning in 1969, she and the children went with him, and she got a job teaching at the school for dependents. After two years and after making lasting friendships with many Koreans, they returned to their home in Olympia bringing an honorary daughter, Kui Ran Park, with them so she could attend high school and college here before returning to her home in Korea. She and Richard returned to active participation in community and church life as well as sponsoring refugees from Cambodia and Viet Nam. After a few years, Ramona attended St. Martins College to work towards a master’s in divinity. Over the years, she has been a member of PFLAG, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and working for peace and justice issues. She and Richard offered their home as overflow overnight accommodations for homeless before cofounding Friendship, the start of Olympia’s Friendship Diversion program with the goal of rehabilitation of first offenders as opposed to incarceration. Ramona has been a member of the Religious Society of Friends in Olympia for several decades where, again, she found a family and spiritual support as well as others to participate in the struggle for peace and justice.

Ramona was a voracious reader, played the piano (even playing hymns over Zoom during COVID for Meeting), and played the recorder. She enjoyed singing, knitting, gardening, drawing, and painting.

Ramona was preceded in death by two sons, Luke and John, and by her husband of 66 years, Richard. She will be remembered and celebrated by her surviving children, Dawn, Allegra, Laura, Mac, and Irene and by her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life will be held from 1-4 pm on Saturday, October 3 at the Olympia Friends Meeting House, 3201 Boston Harbor Rd NE, Olympia. All who wish to share their memories of Ramona or to just be with others who knew her are welcome. The family requests that memorials be made to any organization working for Peace and Justice such as those mentioned above.