1961-2020

Babs Parrott, 58, passed away in her Burlington home on April 6, 2020, from complications due to diabetes following a stroke in 2016. She was born in 1961 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but grew up in Charleston, South Carolina where she worked in her family restaurant, Freida’s. As a young adult, she moved to Seattle with her sister Samantha to open Sammie Sue Restaurant on Capitol Hill.

Babs came to Orcas Island in 2001 to work at Olga Cafe at Artworks. She is best known as a UPS delivery person and manager at Aeronautical Services until 2016. She stood on nearly every porch on the island and drove every road. She had the hands of a potter and an eye for photography. A good friend to many, she had the heart of a lion. If there was live music around, she was there to dance. If the lake was sunny she was in it, bobbing for hours like a lilypad. Her mile-wide smile, her warm Southern charm and generous hugs are just a few of the reasons we were lucky to know her. The focus of the last year of her life was on “What brings joy?” and “What do I love today?”

A celebration of Babs’ life will take place at Mt. Lake in late summer. Donations are welcome in her name to Orcas Community Resources at Orcascrc.org, which helped her tremendously after the stroke.