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Wilma Skelton
Wilma Rae Penny Skelton, 72, of Cape
Girardeau, Mo., died Friday, Dec. 26, 2008, at The Lutheran Home
in Cape Girardeau.
She was born Sept. 5, 1936, in Spring
Brook, Wis., daughter of John Carl and Edna Obenchine Riege. She
lived in Cascade Locks and in the Hood River Valley from
1943-1954, attending Cascade Locks School and Wy’east High
School.
She and William “Bill” Skelton were
married June 28, 1986, in Pocahontas, Mo.
Wilma was a member of Trinity Grace
Chapel in Cape Girardeau. She had worked at Florsheim Shoe and
also at The Lutheran Home. She was a Cape Girardeau Central High
School graduate.
Survivors include her husband, of Cape
Girardeau; nine sons: James Penny, of Scott City, Robert Penny
and Kevin Skelton, both of Cape Girardeau, Lee Martin, of
Advance, Mo., John Martin, of Chaffee, Mo., Michael Audis and
Steven Audis, of Plano, Texas, Daniel Tucker, of Perryville, Mo.
and Allen Skelton, of Portland, Ore.; three daughters: Luella
Harvell, of Hawaii, Linda Held, of Minot, N.D., and Pamela
Breathold, of Patton, Mo.; and a sister, Darlene Etter, of
Portland, Ore.; 25 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her
parents, a daughter and two brothers.
Brita Long
Brita Elizabeth (Currier) Long, 75,
beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed
away on Dec. 15, 2008, in Spokane, Wash. She was born April 23,
1933, in Rapid City, S.D., to Alta and Walter Currier. She moved
to Oregon with her family when she was 3 and lived in many
places in western Oregon, including Astoria and Portland.
Her family moved to Parkdale, Ore., and
she graduated from Parkdale High School in 1951. She met and
married Jerome Milton Long on Dec. 17, 1955. They lived in Hood
River and The Dalles, Ore., for many years, enjoying farming and
raising children.
They moved to Cusick, Wash., in 1979,
where they lived on the beautiful Pend Oreille River for more
than 25 years. They have lived the last few years in Spokane,
Wash.
Though Parkinson’s disease took a toll
on her body, Brita remained a life force for her friends and
family. Her humor, wit and absolute love for her family carried
her through the illness and represented her true spirit in life.
Her family will miss her sweet voice.
She is survived by her husband, Jerome
Long, of Spokane; four daughters: Brenda Corona and her husband,
Daniel, of Hanford, Calif., Debra Ihrke and her husband, Bob, of
Vancouver, Wash., Vikki Holman and her husband, Rik, of Cedar
Crest, N.M., and Tere Clark and her husband, Warren, of Spokane;
grandchildren Mathew, Caitlin and Dominique Corona, Karl and
Kyle Ihrke, Christi, Sid and wife Rachael, Allison and Hannah
Holman, and Jason and Mackenzie Clark; great-grandchild, Trey
Corona; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her mother
and father; sister, Mary Lu Currier; brothers, Walter Currier
and Gerhard Currier; daughter, Christi Jo Long; and
grandchildren, Amie Corona and Aaron Corona.
Her urn will be placed at Fairmount
Memorial Park in Spokane. Memorials can be made to the
Parkinson’s Resource Center of Spokane Inc., 910 W. Fifth, Ste.
256, Spokane WA 99204, or go to www.spokaneparkinsons.org.
John N. Nesbitt
John Nelson Nesbitt, a resident of Hood
River, Ore., since 1974, passed away at Providence Brookside
Manor on Jan. 17, 2009. He was born on Aug. 22, 1913, in Cheney,
Wash., the oldest of six children born to Merrill (Mel) and
Grace (Nelson) Nesbitt.
He grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho,
graduating from high school there in 1932. He worked for his
father and Uncle Harry Nesbitt building railroad bridges in
southern Idaho and along the Columbia River on the Oregon and
Washington side, one of which is at the White Salmon River.
Magda A. Strand lived on the farm next to the Nesbitt farm,
where their meeting ended in marriage on Aug. 22, 1941.
During World War II they lived in
Renton, Wash., where he worked for Boeing Aircraft, building
B-17s. After the war they moved back to Sandpoint, where he
worked extra board on the Great Northern Railroad, the job he
would like to have had all his working life. He then helped tear
down Farragut Naval Base and moved into heavy construction,
working on dams on many rivers.
In 1974, after back surgery, he moved to
Hood River to help his son manufacture fruit-moving trailers.
After this he went to work for the school system as a custodian
at Frankton School, where he worked with the students at lunch
time.
At the age of 70 he retired, only to
lose his sight. He had been a voracious “reader,” but was able
to keep learning with the help of the English students at the
middle school, who read to him until he was 93. His main
interests were history, reading, railroads, traveling and seeing
the changes that time makes.
He is survived by his wife, Magda; son,
John M. Nesbitt, of Hood River; daughter, Kathryn Mitchell, of
Tucson, Ariz.; son, Michael Nesbitt, of Flagstaff, Ariz., and
daughter, Linda Cox, of Mesa, Ariz.; sister, Deane Studebaker,
of Sandpoint, Idaho; brother, Robert (Bob, Rockey) of Yuma,
Ariz.; and sister, Alice (AJ) Lynch, of Anchorage, Alaska.
He is also survived by grandchildren
Garth Reid, Dawn Zuberer, Blane Nesbitt, Sheri Cernaglia and
Cody Nesbitt; three great-grandchildren and many nieces and
nephews and their children.
He was preceded in death by his sister,
Sarah, of Tacoma, and Grace Belle (GB) Pope, of Ft. Lupton,
Colo.
Private cremation was held at Gardner
Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of the
Gorge, (541) 387-6449.
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