Georgie Vargo

Georgie Vargo died May 17, at home in Sisters. She was born Georgiana Lorraine Vunck on July 25, 1923, in Springlake, New Jersey and raised in nearby Oceangrove.

She served as a Navy Wave in Hawaii from 1943 to 1946 and was discharged in 1949. Following her service she married and raised three children in Hawaii. She attended the University of Hawaii in 1946, where she swam competitively and returned to the university in the 1960s to graduate with a Bachelors of Education degree in 1969.

For the next 12 years she taught health and physical education and coached girls basketball and volleyball in high school and junior high school in Orting, Washington. She retired from teaching in 1981.

Georgie purchased property in Sisters in 1973, where she vacationed on "the ridge" every summer. She enjoyed forest walks and thrived on a relationship with nature.

She married Al Vargo, her travel, motorcycle and cross country skiing partner, in 1981. She brought her new husband to Sisters, and the couple became permanent residents that same year. Wild birds flocked to abundant feeders around the Vargo home, which was shared with dogs and cats.

Georgie was a life-long student with a passionate quest for knowledge and spiritual growth. She became a licensed massage therapist in 1990. Two years later she became certified in clinical hypnotherapy. She practiced with Dr. Bonnie Malone until she felt drawn to attend a Taoist monastery in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she studied acupuncture, Ch'I Kung and herbal medicine for six years.

With her class she made two journeys to inland China for advanced study in the monastery where Taoism was founded. She graduated as a Master of Oriental Medicine at the age of 69.

She opened a clinic in Bend, Oregon, and practiced integrative therapies there and in Sisters for several more years. A truly Renaissance woman, Georgie continued to study through her retirement years and was an active member at Cascade Fitness.

She is survived by her husband; daughters Marianne Yeterian and Kathy Rieth; son Chris Jahn; and one grandchild, Mark Yeterian.

The family requests remembrances to Hospice of Redmond-Sisters, 732 SW 23rd, Redmond, OR, 97756 or to Wild Wings Raptor Rehabilitation, c/o U.S. Bank, Sisters, 123 W. Hood Ave.