PORT ANGELES — Former Port Angeles Mayor Joan K. Sargent died early Thursday at the age of 91.
Sargent had suffered a stroke two weeks ago, said her granddaughter, Shaunna Olson of Port Angeles.
On Sunday, medical tests revealed that Sargent had lung cancer, and she chose to remain at her Port Angeles home during her final week of life, Olson said.
“She said she had done everything she wanted out of life. She had a very full and good life,” she said.
Sargent was a latecomer to the world of politics, but in the years after her retirement from working as an accountant in 1982, she became a community leader and volunteer organization go-to person.
“She never retired from community service,” Mayor Cherie Kidd said Thursday.
Even after leaving city government, Sargent could be counted on to help with community service projects right up to the last few weeks, Kidd said.
Sargent arrived in Port Angeles in 1956 and worked for Crown Zellerbach until her retirement.
Her tenure on the Port Angeles City Council from 1988 through 1995 included two stints as mayor: from 1990-1991 and from 1994-1995.
Even before she served on the council, she was involved in city issues, speaking out against a City Council decision to fund the construction of City Hall through bonds that did not require a vote from the public.
She also was well-known for initiating the city’s still-existing fireworks ordinance in 1989.
Voters’ rights
“She was a very strong proponent of voters’ rights,” Kidd said.
Port Commissioner Jim Hallett, who served on the Port Angeles City Council from 1986-1993, alternated with Sargent as mayor.
“She had a concern for her community and was very much a proponent of open government, and she cared a lot about the history of our community — how we got to where we are,” Hallett said.
“While we didn’t always see eye-to-eye, she was consistent in advocating her position,” he said.
“We agreed on taking care of our community in the best way possible.”
In 1995, as mayor, Sargent signed the sister-city agreement between Port Angeles and Mutsu City, Japan, and was a member of the initial delegation to visit Mutsu City.
She was also a member of the Port Angeles Education Foundation and served on the boards of the Community Concert Association, Soroptimist International of Port Angeles (Noon Club), the League of British Women, the State Council on Aging, the White House Council on Aging, the Citizens Utility and Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and the Washington Association of Cities board of directors.
Survivors
Sargent is survived by her husband, Richard Sargent of Port Angeles; son Lee Sargent of Bellevue; daughter Kathy Olson of Walla Walla; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her daughter Paula Jane Sargent in 2003.
“She was the matriarch of our family,” Olson said.
Sargent was born Feb. 23, 1921, in London as Joan Hart.
During World War II, she was evacuated to Yorkshire with other youths of London.
There, she attended a dance where she met Richard Sargent, a U.S. serviceman who was recuperating from injuries in an English hospital.
She immigrated to the U.S. in 1946 and married Richard in Ohio that year.
The family is planning a memorial service for Sargent for the first weekend in August, Olson said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
