Obituary of Nora Maxine Banfield

Nora Maxine banfield Born October 10, 1917 in Eatonville WA. Died December 13, 2007 in Tacoma WA. Maxine was born to immigrant Norwegian parents, Nora and Charlie Siverson. She was the 7th of 8 daughters. Her father was a lumberjack, so Maxine spent part of her childhood on the family farm and part in a lumber camp near Eatonville. She graduated from Eatonville High School and moved to Tacoma to work before she married Ed Crosetto from Eatonville. They move to Olympia where they raised their 2 daughters. During that time she worked at the Olympia Cannery and later as a dental assistant for Dr. Berge Anderson. Life during that time was filled with camping trips, family get-togethers and neighborhood fun. The neighborhood children gravitated to our home where she always had a baseball game going in the front yard, ataffy pull in the kitchen or was organizing and producing a show starring the kids. All of the neighborhood kids voted her as the Mother they would want. Later in life Maxine married her boss, Berge Anderson. The two of them traveled the world together. To the end, she was still corresponding with people worldwide that they had met. When getting her 1st passport was when she found out that her real name was Nora Maxine. She was named after her mother, but was always called by her middle name. After his death, she met Tom Banfield on a blind date and they were married soon after that. The two of them continued the wanderlust she had developed. Half of the year, every year, they took their motor home all around the United States. He taught her to play golf, so they traveled from one golf course to another. Upon his death, Maxine started going to dances. That's where she met the final love of her life, Walter Elsner. He never minded being called Tom as they danced their days away. Maxine took special joy in Walt's quick step and she encouraged him to show it off at every opportunity. Her life was made more joyous to the end because of Walt. Maxine can be defined by her spunk! Even at birth, she beat the odds. She was born 2 months early when her mother was kicked by a cow. They put her in a shoe box, surrounded by cotton, on the oven door. Because of that she always said she was half baked. That spunk continued as she badgered her Mother to let her go to school a year early. A broken arm kept her from getting her way. She loved school and the activities that go with it. She played on the boy's baseball team and always believed she was as good as her teammates. She was always the life of the party and enjoyed having fun with family and friends. When she was in a crowd, she was like a magnet. People were drawn to her. Maxine loved football and basketball games. She had season tickets to the University of Washington football games for over 40 years and never missed a game. She was also fond of Olympia High School games and would see every one that she possibly could, even when she moved away from Olympia. Maxine can also be defined by her creativity. She was an award-winning artist. Her home, as well as her family and friends homes are filled with her paintings. Her creativity spilled over to the way she decorated her home and the way she dressed. She encouraged creativity in her kids and grand kids by always having artistic projects for them to work on. Every year she would take her 3 granddaughters to the ocean for a week in the summer. Oh yes, she did let them swim, but she always had art projects for them to work on every day. The girls marked their summer calendars in anticipation for this yearly trip. Maxine is survived by two daughters and their families : Diane Crosetto of Moses Lake and Sherrie Kenyon of Tacoma. She has 3 granddaughters: Corina Barker of Tacoma, Erin Egan of Los Angeles and Megan Martin of Atlanta. Coming from a family of all girls, she was especially proud of the girls in her family. The boys did come to the family, as she has 4 great grandsons: Drew and Logan Barker and identical twin boys, James and Jacob Martin. She is also survived by step children and their families: Veree Parks, Skip Anderson and Rod Anderson of Olympia, and Jan Henselman of Lakewood. Her best friend and loving companion, Walt Elsner also survives her. She has two surviving sisters: Margaret Chase of Puyallup and Alberta Shandrow of Lakewood. Maxine would like to be remembered for her joy of life and her love of family and friends. Maxine had one request for her funeral. She wanted her grand daughter's husband, Sam Barker to sing "Amazing Grace"