Laura Carli Joki of Boise, a beloved mother, wife, sister, educator, and parishioner at Holy Apostle Catholic Church, is now at peace after a three-year battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). 

Laura was the second of seven children born to Marion Laura Gray and Henry John Roletto in Butte, Montana. Laura spent the majority of her childhood in Wallace, Idaho, and was known for her competitive athleticism and commitment to track and field and basketball.

After graduating from Wallace High School, Laura attended Boise State University on a field hockey and track scholarship. Laura ran the 400, sprint relays and was a high jumper. While competing, she set and broke records, made life-long friends, and built the skills to become an intentional and thoughtful educator. 

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree of science in education, Laura taught health, leadership, and math lab for three decades and coached in the West Ada School District at Meridian Primary, Meridian High School, Centennial High School and most recently, at Crossroads Middle, the assignment she loved most. 

She devoted her life and career to being an educator. Laura led with love and structure in the classroom. She encouraged each student in her class to consider “long term vs. short term thinking” and encouraged kindness because “nice matters.” Laura won Teacher of the Year at Crossroads on multiple occasions during her 21-year tenure.  Karen Harr, the former Principal at Crossroads, put it aptly, “Laura was the heart and soul of Crossroads and a champion for the underdog!” 

In fall of 1990, Laura met her husband, Grant, who was also an educator and coach in Boise, after being set up on a blind date by some of their mutual teacher and coaching friends. Their friends knew of their shared love of teaching, athletics, and their childhoods spent in North Idaho.  It was a match! For both of them, this was their first and last blind date. After falling in love, the two married in Kauai in March 1991. Laura and Grant were known for their synchronicity on and off the court, coaching girls’ basketball. 

Laura loved being a mother to her daughter, Paige, born in 1992, most of all, and often joked about their close bond, calling it a “bungee cord umbilical cord.” She loved spending time with Paige and her devoted husband Grant. She called them her “little family,” being from a large family herself, and enjoyed hosting family gatherings for holidays with her beloved neighbors and friends.

In 2018, Laura was diagnosed with PSP.  Laura participated in clinical
trials at the University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) Memory and Aging Center Clinic and was active in the Treasure Valley YMCA’s Delay the Disease exercise courses for people living with movement disorders, which she attended almost every weekday. Grant, Laura, and Paige are forever grateful for the kindness, compassion and dedication of professionals at UCSF and the YMCA to find treatment options for PSP and support the families impacted by this rare disease. Laura considered them to be sources of strength when her journey was rocky.

Laura also relied deeply on her faith and Genesis 50: 20-21 (“You meant to harm me, but the Lord has placed me here, so that I may help others live.”) to describe her commitment to participating in clinical trials to help others who may benefit in the future from the sacrifices she made to be in clinical trials.

Laura’s belief in herself and her family, her competitive spirit, and her quick wit never wavered as she moved along in her journey with PSP. Grant and Paige often found themselves in awe of Laura in her later years, as she routinely beat the two of them, and often the contestants, to the answers in online game shows.

Laura is survived by her husband Grant of Boise, daughter Paige of Philadelphia, her six siblings, and many extended family members and chosen family. Her family is deeply grateful for the love and support provided to Laura by her nurse, Brittney, and by the St. Luke’s Hospice Team, who came into their lives at the end of Laura’s journey. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider paying it forward by donating or providing supplies to Crossroads Alternative Middle School, located at 650 N. Nola Road, Meridian, ID 83462, where a memorial fund has been set up to honor Laura’s legacy as an educator and to continue to support the students she loved most; by donating to UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center or the Treasure Valley YMCA’s Delay the Disease Program in Laura’s name to offset the cost for impacted families to participate; or by learning more about Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and passing that knowledge on to others. 

We love you Laura. Always!