Delphine Mabel Houghton Wallace, 81, died Oct. 19, 2009 at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport.

She was born March 14, 1928 to Robert and Irma Houghton at their home in Portland. Born prematurely, her parents placed her in an oven to keep warm. She attended St. Mary’s High School in Portland where she made many lifelong friends.

On Dec. 17, 1949, she married the love of her life, Paul Wallace, a Scotsman. The couple and their three children, Stewart, Greg and Vanessa, made a home in the woods between Toledo and Newport on a road she nicknamed “High Valley.”

Paul built her an art studio, where she taught classes to many people. She found reward in teaching others about color and light through oil paintings.

She loved making potato salad with sweet pickles only, for those who came to visit her. She enjoyed the company of her Pomeranian companion, Micki. After Paul’s death in 2003, she always found time to paint, garden and do 360s in her Ford station wagon on Kernville Road.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Wallace; parents, Robert and Irma Houghton; and brother Robert Houghton.

She is survived by her children, Stewart Wallace, Greg Wallace and Vanessa Wallace Julian; grandchildren, Jeff, Deanna, Sarah, Tony and Scott; and great-grandchildren, Jesse, Dylan and Daniel.

A celebration of life will be at a later date.