Florence Estella Whiting Metcalf

Florence Metcalf

Florence Estella Whiting Metcalf, 102, of Bellevue, Washington, passed away peacefully at dawn on January 18, 2026. It seemed her spirit was caught up on the beam of sunlight streaming through the opened window, and was transported to her great reward and Lord and Savior.

She loved the sun, saying, “It’s the one thing you can count on every day”.

She will be laid to rest with George Edward Metcalf at Tahoma National Cemetery.

Florence was born in Kobe, Japan, March 2, 1923. She grew up at Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, a Christian University where her Canadian parents were missionaries. Her two older brothers, Harvey and Lloyd, were always by her side.

She attended Victoria College, University of, Canada, in Toronto. Then WWII broke out and she joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corp for two years. Next was a trip to the United States during WWII to translate for the American Civil Service.

George and Florence

During the Occupation she returned to Japan where she helped those women learn more about Western culture, and met her husband, George. They were married in Japan in 1948 and honeymooned in Peking, China. This was shortly before China closed the doors to the world for 30 years.

After returning to the United States they settled in Cambridge where George completed his degree at MIT and they welcomed their first three children, Roger, Ellen and Joyce.

They traveled to Bellevue, Washington where George worked at Boeing and Laura, was born. Florence was proud to become an American Citizen. Raising four children in their beautiful suburban home was a full-time occupation for Florence. Even with school events and music lessons, and numerous Japanese friends and exchange students, she pursued many hobbies and took painting and education classes. The young family spent vacations in the mountains, at the ocean, and took road trips back east and to Mexico.

Mom loved everything artistic. She painted with oils, pressed flowers and designed floral cards. She enjoyed making flowers with tissue paper, ribbon, and acrylic dip. She made fiberglass panels, by inserting leaves and grasses between the fiber layers. She sewed clothes for all her children and even did a bit of crocheting.

Her talents were endless. She and her friends started a preschool, Tiny Tots, in the basement. She loved to cook and wrote a cooking column for the Bellevue American. Later she began a small catering business.

And then there was Florence, the author. Her first autobiographical book was about growing up in Japan, A Centennial of Memories. The second book was A Peek at Japan, an educational text with drawings written to help us learn Japanese language and culture. Finally, she wrote Hashioki, a book about these small Japanese Chopstick holders. She collected hundreds of them.

Florence was loving, kind, helpful and understanding to others. She found great joy in the simplest things, like flowers and birds. She also had great interest in more complicated themes such as geography and politics.

She has passed down her positive attitude, and her creative and artistic abilities. I think we each got a little piece of Flo’s spirit.

Florence is deeply missed and forever remembered.

She is survived by her four children, Roger Metcalf (Eve Burton), Ellen Heath (Cliff), Joyce Wright (Scott) and Laura Christian, her 11 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.