Grandma, 
You were such a special lady. Your calm nature, patience, and smile was admired by many. You lived with grace, never speaking a negative word about others. I will never forget your laughter, and how contagious it was. I loved seeing you in your "golden years" enjoying your days shopping and driving around town with aunt Shirley to garage sales. Thank you for all the years of support and encouragement you gave me. I have the fondest of memories with you and grandpa at your home in Hayden Lake. Em and I couldn't have asked for better grandparents. We were so lucky to have you. You always believed in me and believed I would reach my goals. I wouldn't be who I am today without you. I will cherish that as long as I live. As sad as I am that I don't get more time with you, I have faith that you are resting easy with grandpa and your siblings. I will remember and love you forever. ~Riley  

Aunt Darlene,

I am so sad you're not here for your family and friends. My memories of you are of a lady who lived with grace and calm, an example we could always learn from. You were a strong woman who led by example, never one to showboat or boast. That's not to say you didn't enjoy a good laugh which always warmed my heart. There were many times when we got together that I remember you laughing, mostly at the Dionne brothers as they joked and poked with each other. I never saw you cross with anyone. Your family is blessed to have had you as a role model for their lives. I remember how sad you were after losing Uncle Sherm and how kind and understanding you were with me when my Dad died. It pleases me that the last portion of your life in Priest River was a happy time for you. I'm lucky to have known you. I'm sure you were loved by most if not all of those whose lives you touched.

Darlene, you were such a great wife and mom and such a good friend to others. Thank you for living a quality life with strong values, kindness, and compassion for others.

It was such great fun to talk about the wonderful finds we'd each collected from great estate and garage sales. :-) 

Your people on earth miss you but Sherm is so glad to be reunited.

Rest in Peace.

My dear delightful aunt Darlene you were so much than an aunt to me. My earliest memories of you were your kindness and overflowing love you shared thru your words and never ending smile. At all the camping trips, trips to the lake you always made sure every one was having a good time. When I was very young I had Barbi doll you came to visit you took the time to play a with me and the dolls. A few weeks later you came over with a very special box for me it was full of beautiful home made doll clothes. I spent many hours of joy playing with new clothes. Thur the years your love and kinds words always made a huge impact on my life. I thank God for the time you spent with me. Your going to be loved and cherished always

Thank you Aunt Darlene for your quiet, loving and kind acceptance of me. Your beautiful musical laugh always warmed my heart.
Our world is a better place because of the Spirit you shared then, now and eternally.
Gary Chapman

Dear Mom:

I couldn't have asked for a more special mother; best friend; and mentor. You have always been so strong and you were the one that kept our family together over the years.

You always worried about everyone's happiness; and would not have wanted us to be sad at this time. It has been so hard though since you passed away. 
There are so many good memories I have growing up in Moscow. 

I remember going to the other housewives homes with you in the morning to have your morning coffee and visits with them. I remember the time I brought home the permission slip to sign up for a summer softball team. I was so excited that I finally got to do this as I watched my brothers play baseball. I always wanted to be doing what they were doing. You went and bought me a red baseball mitt and I was so proud of that. You and dad came to every game and cheered me on; even into my teen and adult years. 

I remember our fun vacations we had in the motorhome; going to Disneyland a few times; and going up to grandma's river lot for the 4th of July. I remember signing you up for our 4-H club to teach a knitting class to the kids. You were not very happy with me for that; but you took it in stride and did it. I believe you even enjoyed it. Unfortunately; I did not inherit your love for knitting and crocheting when I was young. I was too interested in playing outside in whatever sport was available.

One fond memory of my competitiveness was when we had motorcycles. Scott and Craig were old enough to ride them; but you wouldn't let me. I was so upset that I was not being taught how to ride. So, one afternoon; I went and got the neighbor boy to come over and try and help me start the Honda 50 motorcycle. We got it started; and off we went riding out in our acreage behind the house. You looked out the window and couldn't believe it was me on the motorcycle.  We were pretty safe though as we did not know how to shift it; and couldn't get past first gear. I am so sorry I caused you grief growing up over the years because of this.
 
I am so grateful that you were so strong and able to fight your cancer. I was only in 9th grade when you got sick; and were in the hospital almost a whole summer. Dad tried to keep the truth from us you both didn't want us to worry. I remember you telling me later in life; that you couldn't give up for us kids. When you were so weak; you said your goal for the day was to walk out to the mail box and once around the house to try and get your strength back. You were able to fight it and go on and live to see your grandchildren born. You were always there to help me with my kids in anything I needed; but also showed them gratitude for what they had in life.

It was fun having you live with me after dad passed away. It was nice to reconnect with you and bond in your later years and hear stories about your childhood.  I remember one evening hearing you humming in my kitchen when you were making dinner. Dad would have been so happy knowing that you were living with me again.

I think the happiest I have seen you is when you got to move back to Priest River again.  Living with your brother Duane and cooking for him; and watching your favorite TV programs together brought a sense of contentment. You were able to be close to your sister Shirley again and be her partner in crime venturing out to many local garage sales.  I recall seeing a few scratches and dents in your car while you lived up there; and when I asked how these occurred; you were totally oblivious that they were even on your car. This worried me a bit; but I knew you were having the time of your life. 

One thing I learned when you were living with me later in life is that you had met dad in Priest River. I had thought all of these years; that you had met him at work at Central Pre-Mix. Apparently; you met him while he was driving a bus from Spokane to Priest River on the weekends. You had just gout of college and were living in Spokane. You got your first job in Spokane working at Central Pre-Mix; and you told me you spotted dad outside one day. You thought he was stalking you; but you had no idea that he had actually worked there. That is such a cute story. I guess it was fate that brought you two together.

Scott, Craig; and I thought it only appropriate to have you and dad in your final resting place together in Priest River. This is where you grew up as a child; and eventually met dad. It is a special place for you.

Thank you mom for being so good to me and all of my family. I only hope that I could be as good of a mom that you were to me. I will think of you every day and and thank god for being part of my life.

Love,

Yvonne

Mom, I miss you. You were a positive presence in my life for all of my sixty-one years. Being the oldest child, I was sort of a 'mommy's boy.' Before Craig and Yvonne came along, it was just you and I at home because Dad always had to work. You were my first friend. Although you had worked prior to getting married, you sacrificed your career to stay at home to raise us kids. I would have loved just as much had you worked, but I was rewarded with a childhood of having you at home with me as I was growing up. I think the reason I can remember so many things from my childhood is because the memories are so warm.

Here's just one example. One time—this was when I was around five or so—a work crew doing some repair work on the power-lines across the street from our house took their lunch break. They sat down to eat their lunch in our yard but on the other side of the fence. I was told never to open the gate and play on that side of the fence. But I wanted to go out there with those men to have my lunch. You had just bought me a new lunch pail, which I was itching to use. When I told you I wanted to go out and have lunch with those men, you didn't think twice but hurriedly made me a lunch. So for a day I got to pretend I was a worker on a crew taking a lunch break. Thank you, Mom, for bending the never-play-in-that-side-of-the-fence rule just that once.

Or this. After we moved to Moscow and we now had some land to grow a garden, I used to look forward to that time in spring when I got to take the rototiller out of the garage and begin tilling our garden space to get ready to plant a new garden. We would do the garden together. You let me pick out which seeds I wanted for that year. Remember how we used to order the Burbee seeds from the mail-order catalog together? You always loved gardening. If there is one symbolic image I have of you, Mom, it's you out in the garden. You had a magical way with flowers. To this day if I am out in the backyard weeding or taking care of our blueberry bushes, I remember those wonderful times I spent with you out in our special garden. It's a very powerful, serene image I have.

You loved to play card games. I have fond memories of you and Dad and Uncle Conner and Aunt Hazel sitting around the kitchen table after dinner playing cards and laughing and telling stories. It seemed there was always a Cribbage game on the weekends in the kitchen. Our house was always filled with laughter from those card games! I think so fondly of those times. You can't imagine how important it is for children to grow up in a home where there is laughter and a warm fellow-feeling in the air. You were the reason our house was a warm one. 

In Moscow we had the kind of house where sometimes guests didn't bother to ring the doorbell. They just came in. The door was always unlocked. They knew that you and Dad would welcome them no matter what. I remember one time we were having dinner and Rick Musseau suddenly appeared in the kitchen! Without missing a beat, you got him a plate and we all made room for him at the table. One of my friends in high school, Rolf Mueller, an exchange student from Austria, liked to hang out at our place. He didn't particularly like the family he lived with and thought you and Dad were much easier on the nerves. Another high school friend of mine, Dean Bailey, also told me that I was lucky I had such a chilled Mom. He would come into the house and plop down in a chair next to you and chit-chat with you for the next thirty minutes. You had that effect on most of my friends. They were at ease around you. I was lucky to grow up in a house that people wanted to be in because they felt the warmth.

When we moved to Hayden Lake you began going to garage sales. You were always at your happiest going to garage sales with your sister Shirley. You and Shirley would act like excited teenagers when you went out on a Friday afternoon searching for lost treasure in somebody's garage sale. I would tag along sometimes, looking for old LPs or maybe a rare guitar. I had a lot of fun being with the two of you. You always seemed so happy when Shirley came to town. We all had a good time together going to those garage sales.

We didn't travel around the world. We didn't see foreign places. We did take the occasional family vacation to places like Disneyland and Yellowstone. But what I remember best are those wonderful camping trips we took. A lot of my childhood memories are from those camping trips. I am forever grateful that I had a mother and a father who liked to camp. I can't tell you how appreciative I am that we as a family went camping a lot and that us kids got to grow up being immersed in the great outdoors.

Mom, it's time for me to go. I have to get back to my daughters. It's time for me to do with them what you did with me. You showed me how to be a parent. Thank you for that. Thank you for everything. I miss you. I'll be thinking of you today out in my blueberry bushes.

Mom, you will always be remembered as a sweet, gentle person. I will always remember your laugh. You loved to spend time with us, to travel, and you taught me to appreciate life's crazy mixed adventures. Looking back at my age now I realize how tough you were as a person. You survived cancer and some crippling health problems in your later days and you rarely complained or made others uncomfortable. You and dad always hid your health problems from us thinking that it would just worry us. You were raised during the Depression and I think a lot about how your attitude about wasting food and conserving costs of things. We never owned cars with air conditioning because it meant bad gas mileage! I think about how you probably had a lonely life in a lot of ways, being a stay at home mom moving to Moscow to start a life with your husband, having to make new friends. I remember we traveled to see family more than they traveled to see us (we rarely had visitors to our house in the Palouse prairie in Moscow). But you were always cheerful, and supported your kids in their many hobbies and sports and diversions. I only hope that I can be as good a parent as you were. I am sorry I couldn't travel back to be with you when you passed away. Covid hit fast and shut things down and I rescheduled that flight a couple of times but I was too late. Having to say goodbye to on the phone was probably one of the toughest things I lived through. I am glad Yvonne was there for you.  I feel blessed to have you as a mother and think about you every day.

Dear Grandma,
Thank you for always being there, for coming to watch my sports, and for all the yummy dinners. You made the most delicious salads. Thank you Grandma for taking us to garage sales. I got my love for those and finding the best deals from you. One of my favorite memories is sitting on a blanket in front of your TV eating a maple bar and watching a movie you rented for us. We were spoiled and we got to do this a lot. I love the crocheted Barbie outfits you made for my Barbie dolls. I still have those. I had the most stylish Barbies in the neighborhood. It felt like home when you were around, and I will miss your smile and laugh. Again, thank you for being the best Grandmother a granddaughter could ever ask for, and I will love you forever and always. You are always in my heart.
Love, your Granddaughter, Emilee