Obituary of Omar Benard Neshem

Omar Benard Neshem, loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather passed away on Friday, December 18th at the age of 88 from complications due to surgery. He is survived by his loving partner for many years, Dawn Hicks, his three children, David Omar Neshem of Hawaii, Dianne Thea Engebretson of California and Randy Dean Neshem of Fox Island, Wa., one sister, Violet of Seattle, 6 granddaughters, Denise Crotty, Heather Neshem, Michele Morgan, Candice Phillips, Darci Palm, and McKinley Neshem and 8 great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death in 1998 by his loving wife, Shirley Marcella Neshem. Omar was born on June 21, 1921 in Lone Tree, North Dakota and when he was about nine he moved to the Horseshoe Lake area in Port Orchard, Wa with his parents Thea and Ole Sr. and his eight siblings. As a young man, he met his bride, Shirley, on a blind date and they fell madly in love and were married on August 21, 1942. He joined the navy shortly after their marriage and then after his discharge in 1946 he worked at the PSNS during and after completing his apprenticeship in boat building/cabinetry. He took an early retirement from his position as a Planner and Estimator in 1960 to become an entrepreneur and loved working for himself. He developed property in the Silverdale area and then in 1962 he built Norseland Mobile Estates across from the Kitsap Airport. While building this beautiful, unique mobile home park he also started his own modular home building business, which was one of the first of it’s kind. After selling Norseland in the early 1980’s, he moved to the Allyn area where he and his son, Randy, built the Sherwood Hills RV and Mobile Home Park. He retired from this business in the late 1990’s and moved to the Olympia area where he was living when he passed away. He and his partner, Dawn, enjoyed many activities including going on cruises, traveling to see Omar’s children and grandchildren and shopping at local garage sales where Omar loved buying toys and bicycles to give to the kids in the neighborhood who couldn’t afford these things. He always loved giving rather than receiving – it made him feel so good to give to others. He and Shirley always loved the water so they had a cute cabin on Wildcat Lake for a few years and then they built their first large home on the water in the early 1950’s on Oyster Bay in Bremerton and even had one of the first swimming pools of the area built in their front yard. After building Norseland Mobile Estates and living away from the water, they realized how much they missed it so they bought a 46’ yacht in the early 70’s and lived aboard for 5 years (mostly in the Port Orchard and Gig Harbor areas) and then bought a larger one and lived on it for another 5 years (most of it in Poulsbo). They loved their annual trips to the San Juan Islands, especially when their children and grandchildren followed them on their boats. During their early yachting years in the 70’s, Omar started the Sinclair Inlet Yacht Club with other local boaters and became their 2nd Commodore. He also built a local restaurant at that same time, The Naughty Buccaneer, and built an office inside of it for the yacht club meetings. He was an avid and exceptional contractor/cabinet maker, always having innovative ideas way ahead of his time. After giving up boating in the 1980’s, they bought a 2nd home in Hemet, Ca. to travel to during the winter and loved those get aways. Whatever they did, they loved doing it together. Omar was a proud lifetime member of the Elks, having been a member for more than 55 years! He and Shirley loved to go dancing at the Bremerton Elks, especially when their son Randy played there in his band called Pazazz. He was also a long time member of the Eagles, American Legion and VFW. He and his wife Shirley always enjoyed the many friends they met through these organizations. Omar always said he had a great long life and he lived it to the fullest. He was at his happiest when with a new group of people – he could walk into the room and make everyone smile with his stories! He will be greatly missed by many! No services will be held at the request of Omar Neshem.