Valley County, IDGenWeb Project | |
Lottie Irene Willey Krause of Donnelly and Parma passed away peacefully on May 10, 2012 after a long and full life at the age of 90. She was born near Roseberry, Idaho on November 4, 1921, to Claude and Mary Spickelmire Willey. Lottie was the 7th child of 4 brothers and 4 sisters born to this Long Valley pioneer couple. She was so happy when her baby brother was born because she wasn’t the youngest anymore.
Funeral services will be held at the Donnelly Bible Church on May 19, 2012 at 10:00a.m., followed by graveside services at Bell/Spink Cemetery.
Lottie was raised on the ranch in Long Valley with her siblings, Emory, Hugh, Vada, Mary, Meryl, Frank and Jack. She learned to work hard and do whatever job needed done, though she preferred the outside chores. She attended rural schools, often on horse back. To attend high school in Donnelly, she had to board with people living in town. She loved to play basketball with her high school team. She graduated from Donnelly High School, valedictorian of the class of 1939.
She left Valley County to work at Mountain Home Air Base during WWII. There she met a young soldier from Texas, Herbert Henry Krause. Herb and Lottie were married November 3, 1944. When Herb was sent to Germany Lottie went home to the ranch to wait for his return. Herb and Lottie bought a log home in Donnelly and lived there for over 60 years. Failing health forced them to move to the Parma area in 2008, where their oldest daughter lives. Lottie had a very hard time leaving her Long Valley home and life-long friends.
Lottie loved life and worked and played with enthusiasm and steadfastness. She always had a smile and many friends. She had various jobs in her lifetime starting with farm work as a child. She was interested in the workings of the farm until the day she died. Among some of her other jobs was working in Yellow Pine as a young woman, in the potato fields as a young mother, in the Post Office and finally for the Department of Agriculture in the ASCS office. She retired from government service in January of 1982 after 31 years, 3 months, and 18 days. The job she did very best was being a mother and grandmother. She was the most special mother to Jackie Lynn, Richard Dell and Vickie Ann. She was involved in 4-H, Cub Scouts, swimming lessons, snow skiing, water skiing, camping, school sports, band and choir, piano lessons, church programs, any and all activities that we chose to do plus making our home a healthy and happy place to be. She was a talented seamstress and crocheted several afghans. She also felt that community involvement and service was important. She served on several area boards. She took pride in a job well done whatever the task might be.
Lottie loved the beauty of the earth; mountains, rivers, meadows, wild-life, trees and especially flowers. She liked things to be as pretty as possible; her home, yard, her hair and clothes. She was an active, busy person most of her life. She enjoyed bowling as an adult, even on a championship bowling team in 1976. But one of her life long favorites was reading. Reading books was her solace when the physical things could no longer be accomplished. She was a member of the Donnelly Bible Church and especially enjoyed the women’s Bible Study group.
Lottie leaves us with the incredible example of a life of deep faith, love, optimism, hard work, determination, and friendship. She will be so deeply missed. Lottie was preceded in death by her husband Herb, her parents and 7 of her siblings. She is survived by her sister Mary Willis, sister-in-law Sara Willey and numerous nieces and nephews; her daughter Lynn (Ron) Atkinson of Parma; her son Rick (Elsie) Krause of Donnelly; and her daughter Ann (Skip) Smith of Caldwell.
She has nine grandchildren: Lori (Jared) Stockett, Brian (Cindy) Atkinson, Cheryl (Shawn) Leavitt all of Parma; Julie (Jeremy) Trombley of Mosinee, Wisc; Brent (Leslie) Atkinson of Belgrade Mont.; Janet (Eric) Robinson of Donnelly; Alan (Alison) Krause of San Diego, Calif; Bryn (Chris) Johnstone of Homedale; Ryan Smith of Boise. She is also survived by 11 great-granddaughters and 9 (soon to be 11) great-grandsons.
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