Georgia Drakos, 67, of Vashon/Maury Island, WA, died on November 13, 2021.

The daughter of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Marshall and Mrs. Bernice F. Marshall, Georgia, was born February 13, 1954 in El Paso, Texas. Raised in a military family, she moved around frequently during her childhood, primarily spending time in Maine where she learned to ski and eventually settling in Los Alamitos, California where she began bodysurfing. She graduated from Los Alamitos High School where she was a proud member of the Speech and Debate team and founder of the Seal Beach Bodysurfing Club. Georgia competed in beauty pageants throughout her youth, culminating in her title of Miss Seal Beach 1971.

Her passion was taking care of others. As a young woman, she translated this urge to care into a career in nursing. Among her many healthcare jobs, she has been an EMT, an RN, and a nursing school instructor. A fierce personality, her loved ones always knew that she would never hesitate to put on her red heels for them (Georgia’s Code of Law Determination). She loved life, she loved animals, and she was known to take in a stray or two (animals and people).

Georgia became a mother in 1975 and gave birth to her daughter Erin with then-husband Hugh Grady, Jr.

In 1979, she married her best friend and the love of her life, Nick Drakos, in Long Beach, California. They made their first home for 22 years in Cypress, CA. Together they lovingly designed their next home for 19 years, Orchard House, in La Habra Heights, California, where Nick could be closer to work and they could both spend more time together tending their small orchard. Sharing an adventurous spirit, Georgia and Nick thrive on exploring the world together. Camping and skiing (water and snow) made up most of the couple’s early adventures. Many weekends were spent camping with the Bottom Feeders, a bluegrass collective, and they stamped their passports to visit a new country or region of the world as often as they could. The last trip together was a road trip with their motorhome through Oregon and California in the fall of 2021, where they visited friends and family.

Georgia preceded in death her beloved nephew Ryan Neale, her cherished brother Edward Marshall, a handful of dear and true friends, and the cats and dogs she loved along the way.

She is survived by her forty-two-year-old husband, Nick Drakos, daughter Erin Grady of Altadena, CA, and sisters Linda Sample and Karen “Penny” Thompson, and their brothers/sisters-in-law. Nieces, nephews, good friends and a dog.

As a lifelong organ donor, Georgia now lives on in others. What remains was incorporated into the sea she loved so much.