Off a gravel road in west Federal Way, on a 1.25 acre property, in a spacious 2,000-square-foot home, 92-year-old Opal Gage enjoys an unparalleled view of the serene Poverty Bay and Puget Sound below.

Since 1971, she’s called this place home. It’s where she and her husband, Bob, reared their three children: Nellice, Ken and Dan.

Prior to moving to Federal Way, the couple and their kids lived in Anchorage, Alaska, where her husband was a pilot and flew groups of people on hunting charters into the wilderness.

“My mom was a really good shot,” Ken Gage, 58, said. “She used to shoot a 12-gauge shotgun, which is a pretty big gun for a woman.”

Opal Gage was born Opal Walker in 1923 in Ansley, Nebraska, the fifth of six children: three brothers and two sisters.

She remembers keeping up with her three brothers, competing to outshoot them.

“I loved to hunt,” she said. “I grew up shooting with my brothers and sisters.”

The Walker kids also grew up on a farm.

“Cows, horses, you name it.”

Living on a farm, Opal Gage and her siblings learned really quick how to live off the land. Much of the jobs they did were agriculture related.

Early in her childhood, she and her family moved to Colorado. It was from Colorado that the Dust Bowl eventually pushed the family westward to California.

Ken Gage said his mother’s family probably looked like the television family, “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

“They packed everything on a truck and moved out to California,” he said.

Opal Gage received much of her schooling up through high school while living in California. In high school was where she first met her future husband, Bob Gage.

Her first husband served during World War II. While in Pearl Harbor, his ship was hit by a submarine and he perished. At the time, Opal Gage was six months pregnant with Nellice. Six month later she married Bob Gage, who did trucking in California. He volunteered to take friends up to Alaska by truck, and Ken Gage said the family decided to move to Alaska.

He said when the family moved to Alaska his mother took a job working at a dry cleaners.

“My dad said he took any job that was available,” he said. “He met a friend who flew small planes. It used to be the only way to get around Alaska was by small plane.”

Soon his father was a pilot and eventually he flew for Cordova Airlines. Ken Gage said when Cordova Airlines was bought out by Alaska Airlines, the family moved to Federal Way.

The house the family moved into, which Opal Gage still lives in, was built in 1901. Her son said it was one of the first homes built in the area. When the Gage family moved to their new home in the early 1970s, Ken Gage remembers South 312th Street and Highway 99 being the center of town.

“Where The Commons mall is now, used to be a swamp,” he said.

Prior to 1901, the Gage family home was divided into detached cabins. The property in the late 1800s was a resort, covered in cabin dwellings.

“When you go under the house you can see different foundations,” Ken Gage said.

Growing up, he remembers his mother and father welcoming friends to stay. The guest bedroom was always occupied and the couch was always full. He said many people knew his folks via the hunting charters they did in Alaska. Those people would visit whenever passing through Federal Way.

For 40 years, a wooden sign has hung outside the porch, reading: “Gage Motel, Vacancy.” This was gifted from family friends.

Up until age 90, Opal Gage was strong and vital, still driving and pulling weeds and gardening. But at age 90, she suffered a stroke and quickly declined, Ken Gage said. He noted at one time his mother enjoyed ceramics, knitting and crocheting. Still to this day, her garden outside is beautiful.

Carol Schuler, Opal Gage’s caregiver from Comfort Keepers, said she’s more than happy to water her garden and do anything she requests.

“She’s like family,” Schuler said.

Opal Gage is blessed with 14 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. Her son said he’s reminded each day how much he appreciates his mother. His father passed away in 2001.

“Cherish every day with your parents,” Ken Gage said. “Treat them well.”