Audrey Irene Castle

Audrey Irene Castle, 88, of Coos Bay, Oregon, went home to Heaven to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on January 28, 2023. She passed away peacefully with family by her side, from congestive heart failure.

Audrey was born October 16, 1934, on a farm just outside of Rapid City, South Dakota. She was the fifth and last surviving sibling of the nine children born to Elmer and Sophie Kursave.

On September 16, 1950, Audrey married the love of her life, Richard “Dick” Wayne Castle. They lived in Rapid City for a short time, where they had their first daughter, Katherine Rose in 1951, then moved to North Bend, Oregon, where they had three more children, Carol Jean in 1952, Carla Marie in 1955 and Richard Wayne Jr. in 1956.

Audrey was a housewife, staying home to raise her children for many years. Once they were older, she worked a number of jobs, her first being at the Pink Poodle Ice Cream Parlor in Pony Village Mall. Audrey also worked at the Coos Bay Dairy Queen for many years, she eventually retired from working as a housekeeper.

In her early 40s, Audrey was baptized. She attended Myrtle Point Community Church and College Park Community Church over the years and put in lots of volunteer hours at both, mostly running the kitchen. She was always well known for serving coffee and cookies after the service. Audrey was active in various sports, she played women’s recreational volleyball, played on several bowling teams and was an avid golfer and member of the Kentuck Ladies Golf Association, winning many tournaments and titles. Gardening was another of Audrey’s hobbies as she spent many hours outside tending to her flowers.

She was famous for many things, her home canned raspberry jam, crispy edge pancakes, hot kisses and her mother-in-law’s recipe for chicken and noodles, just to name a few. She had a serious love for the color purple, Dick even bought her a purple car!

In October of 1970, her first grandson was born, Joe Keefer. Soon thereafter came six more grandchildren, Megan (Castle) Ross, Audra Smith, Katy (Smith) Londagin, Patrick Hubbell, Allison (Hubbell) Henderson and Emily (Castle) Brent. Audrey was truly one of the best Grandmas and even got the nickname Grandma-Great in September of 2000 when her first of what eventually would be six great-grandchildren were born.

Audrey was preceded in death by her husband, Richard; her parents, Elmer and Sophie and her daughter, Carla (Castle) Hubbell.

She is survived by her children, Kathy Smith of North Bend, Carol Clinton of Coos Bay, Richard and Patricia Castle of Longview, Washington; her sister-in-law, Ida (Castle) DeGarlais of North Bend, as well as her many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life for Audrey will be held at a later date. The family would also like to send out a heartfelt thank you to all of the physicians, nurses and caregivers who assisted in her care.

Arrangements are under the care of Coos Bay Chapel, 541-267-3131. Family and friends are invited to sign the online guestbook at www.coosbayareafunerals.com

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Audrey Irene Castle, please visit our floral store.