Baker City, Oregon - On July 1, 2026, Valerie J. Golar took her last breath on Earth with family by her side. She was 81 years old. A graveside service will be held on August 14th~ 11:00 a.m. at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Baker City, Oregon to honor her life.

She was born on February 4, 1945 in Walla Walla, Washington. Valerie spent most of her childhood in Richland, Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon, where she relished being outdoors as much as possible, sometimes bringing the outside in to show her patient parents the latest snake or other creature she'd found. After moving to Enterprise, Oregon, she attended Enterprise High School, where she served as the Senior Class Secretary, was voted Homecoming Queen, and graduated with honors. She held summer jobs working in gorgeous locations at Wallowa Lake Lodge in Joseph, Oregon, and Boulder Park Resort in the Eagle Mountains near Medical Springs, Oregon, riding horses in between shifts.

After high school, she attended Eastern Oregon College in La Grande, Oregon, eventually moving to Baker City where she met who would become her husband of 60 years, Vernon Golar. While she helped handle the administrative side of Vern's logging operation for years, she also held a variety of administrative and bookkeeping jobs in Baker at Bingham and Bingham Accounting, the Baker Truck Corral, and Baker County.

She was an avid gardener and loved flowers - it's not an exaggeration to say her camera roll was at least 80% photos of dahlias, zinnias, hollyhocks, roses, hydrangeas, pansies, lilacs, and many, many more that she had cultivated to thrive and bloom throughout the years. Her family and friends were lucky to be the subject of her love and nurturing, as well, whether it was receiving a beautiful, hand-decorated cake, a new hand-sewn outfit or costume for the holidays, or an uplifting letter at just the right time. A great writer and sketcher, those who were fortunate enough to receive one of her witty stories or notes still chuckle thinking about them. She enjoyed reading and learning about world events and cultures, archaeology, history, and more, and some of her favorite travels after retirement were to the southwest.

She passed only weeks after her husband Vernon did, ready to sow a new garden with him, her Creator, her oldest son Todd, and other family who have already gone ahead.

Survivors include her son Jeremy; daughter Staci and her partner Robert Garcia; sister Paula Warrington; grandsons Bradley, Brenden, Braxton, and Breyton and their mother Christine Golar; and numerous beloved cousins, nieces, and nephews, all of whom will now look for her in the flowers.

Online condolences can be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com.