Longtime Aberdeen resident Valgene “Val” West passed away at Grays Harbor Community Hospital on Friday, November 16, 2012. She was 82. Val was born on May 15, 1930, in Crown Township, Minnesota, to Walter and Grace (Burnside) Krueger. The family later moved to the Harbor in 1938. Val graduated from Weatherwax High School in Aberdeen.
Val married Jerry West in 1949, and they had three sons. In 1970, Val became one of the original founders of P.A.W.S. of Grays Harbor, where she diligently worked for her cause until her passing in 2012.