Tommi Rhoda Halvorsen Gatlin, 78, longtime journalist and reporter for The Daily World and Montesano Vidette, died on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Lacey, Washington.

Tommi was born in Renton, Washington to Thomas Alfred and Juanita (Kearn) Halvorsen on Nov. 5, 1946. She graduated from Issaquah High School in 1964. She moved to Texas in the 1970s, returning to Washington and Aberdeen in 1976.

Tommi graduated from Grays Harbor College in 1985 and went to work for The Daily World in 1986 where she worked in the classified/obituary department and wrote in the What’s Happening column. She transferred to the Montesano Vidette in the mid 2000s where she worked as a reporter until she retired in 2014.

Tommi had a strong love and faith in her savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. She attended different churches in Grays Harbor County and was a member of the Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Elma before she moved to Lacey, Washington. She enjoyed spending her retirement gardening, genealogy, reading and feeding the squirrels around her home. She enjoyed spending time at the ocean, particularly in Moclips.

Tommi is survived by two daughters: Angela (Wendell) Edwards of Olympia and Carolyn Gatlin of Hoquiam; a son Tony Vogel of Seattle; a brother Daniel Halvorsen of Kelso, Washington; a sister: Ramona Halvorsen of Kelso, Washington; a foster sister, Vickie Fergason of Texas; four grandchildren: Aliese Whearty, Stephanie Gatlin, Joeleen Gatlin and Alexander Vogel; and three great-grandchildren: Amber, Kaylie, and Jayden. Tommi was preceded in death by two sons: Michael and George Gatlin; three brothers: Douglas Rowe, Christopher Halvorsen and Samuel Halvorsen and a sister, Heidi Halvorsen.

There will be a celebration of life on Saturday, May 24, at 11 a.m. Twibell’s Fern Hill Funeral Home chapel in Aberdeen, Washington.

A message of condolence or a memory can be sent to the family at fernhillfuneral.com

Arrangements are entrusted to Twibell’s Fern Hill Funeral Home in Aberdeen.