Former mayor of Washougal Molly Coston dies at age 77

Washougal city councilor, former mayor and longtime community volunteer Molly Coston died Tuesday. She was 77.

Coston’s leadership and commitment played a central role in Washougal’s growth and civic identity for nearly two decades, according to a statement from the city of Washougal.

“Molly’s passing is a huge and sad loss for our city,” Washougal Mayor David Stuebe said. “Many people called her ‘Mayor Molly’ because she was approachable and took the time to truly listen and be truly engaged. Her leadership influenced the direction of our city, and we are so grateful for her service.”

Coston first joined the Washougal City Council in 2005 and served for six years. Then, after several years away from city government, she was elected mayor in November 2017, holding the position from 2018 to 2021. She was elected to fill an unexpired term for the council’s No. 5 position in 2021 and reelected to the position in 2023.

“Molly was a calm and measured leader who loved her community dearly,” Battle Ground Mayor Troy McCoy said.

During her tenure, Coston convened a citizen panel to study shifting to a council-manager form of government, a proposal later approved by voters; played a key role in creating the Camas-Washougal Regional Fire Authority recently approved by voters; chaired the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee; championed new public art for Washougal’s Town Center Plaza campanile; and helped shape major projects, including the city’s revitalization of its town center.

“She’s deeply competent,” former Washougal City Councilor Paul Greenlee told the Camas-Washougal Post-Record in 2020. “She’s very smart in dealing with people and always on an even keel; even if something’s going on underneath that calm exterior, she still presents as calm and in control.”

At the time of her death, Coston was serving as the chair of the C-Tran board of directors and Clark County Regional Transportation Council board of directors.

“Molly wasn’t just an amazing public servant, but she was also a wonderful person,” Ridgefield Mayor Matt Cole said. “She was so kind, had a deep sense of integrity.”

Beyond her roles in city hall, Coston served as president of the Washougal Arts and Culture Alliance; Columbia Gorge Refuge Stewards board member; Rotary Club of Camas-Washougal member; Orchard Hills Golf & Country Club house committee co-chair; and Washougal School District parent advisory committee member.

Coston was born in Central New York and moved with her family to Tucson, Ariz., when she was 13 years old. She graduated from the University of Arizona with Bachelor of Science degrees in biology and organic chemistry, and then worked in the school’s biochemistry research department. She then served as a researcher for the state of Arizona’s public health department before leaving the science field to become a business owner, operating a bar and restaurant, then a trucking company, both in Tucson.

But for the bulk of her career, she worked for Nortel Networks, a global telecommunications company. She worked her way up to a senior project manager position, managing large telecommunication projects in Alaska, Micronesia (where she lived for two years) and the Pacific Northwest.

“I would have anywhere from one or two people to 60 people working for me, and 95 or 96 percent of them were male,” Coston, a certified master scuba diver, said in 2020. “People have asked me, ‘How much flack did you run into?’ Surprisingly, not a lot. I grew up with five brothers, so I’m very accustomed to handling those kinds of relationships.”

Coston and her husband, fellow Nortel employee Phil Harris, moved to Washougal in November 2000. (Harris died in 2012.)

Coston said she didn’t have a connection to the places she lived before because she worked so much.

“When we moved to Washougal, I said, ‘Here’s the community I’m going to become engaged in.’ This is an incredibly compassionate place,” Coston said in 2020. “When people talk about the ‘small-town feel,’ that’s really kind of what it is — that openness to actually engage with other people that you may not even know. That’s becoming rarer and rarer as we urbanize.”

The city will provide information about its plans to fill Coston’s council position next week, said Michele Loftus, Washougal’s communications manager.