Carolina Sims

Carolina E. Sims was born Oct. 18, 1926, in Bergamo, Italy. Being the youngest of 16 children, her family was hoping for a better life for her after the war in the United States, so she became a war bride.


Unfortunately, they couldn’t have known the hardship and struggles that she would face. She divorced and though she didn’t speak English very well, she found a job and worked hard and saved her money.


Later she met and married Gino Del Guerra, an accordion teacher. They had two daughters, Kathy and Anna. There were many struggles during their marriage and sadly, it ended in divorce.


Lina worked hard washing and ironing clothes for other people day and night to feed and raise her daughters. But she was able to buy a small house in Empire, Ore., which is now part of Coos Bay, and continued to wash and iron for local military men and other local people.


Then she started dating again and met her future husband and life partner, Tony L. Sims. They married on Dec. 3, 1959, on a quick trip to Reno, Nev., and started their life together. In 1961 they moved to a house in North Bend, Ore., which had a lot more room for the entire family.


In 1968 they bought an old farm house up Haynes Inlet just north of North Bend. There, they spent many years remodeling and putting just the right touch in the old house, from beautiful chandeliers to custom kitchen cabinets which added to the old charm. They were even able to acquire items from each person who had lived in the house before them, from a beautiful piece of myrtle wood for the mantel of the fireplace to pieces of ceramic to decorate with.


But of all the things Lina adored most in the house was the old Home Comfort wood cooking stove. She spent many hours baking, cooking and canning on it, as well as drying fruit on the screens that Tony had made for her. It also kept the house very warm on rainy, cold days as it was her favorite way to heat the house.


She was an avid antique collector from furniture to glassware, and loved nothing more than to find a good bargain in her travels.


Lina was preceded in death by her husband of almost 50 years. Tony Sims passed away on June 23, 2009.


She is survived by her daughters, Anna and her husband, David Humbert, and Kathy, and her husband, Bill Bullack.


She also had six grandchildren: Christina, Sarah, Melissa, Michael, Rebecca and Aaron, and four great-grandchildren, Anthony, Sophia, Erin and Owen.