Obituaries - April 29, 2010

Thomas E. Boone

The funeral for Tom Boone, 81, retired Palouse area farmer, was Tuesday, April 27, at 1 p.m. at the Palouse Federated Church. The Rev. Corey Laughary officiated. Burial followed at the Greenwood Cemetery at Palouse with Potlatch Post VFW and a United States Army honor guard participating.

Mr. Boone died April 20, 2010, at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane from complications following heart surgery.

Born Feb. 8, 1929, at Pullman, to Daniel W. and Opal Brooks Boone, he attended the Pullman Schools and graduated from Pullman High School in 1947. He joined the United States Army in 1950 and served in the 369th EASR engineer division stationed at Fort Worden and Fort Flagler in Washington. He later attended an engineering school at Fort Belvoir, Va.

He married Donna Jean Packard July 20, 1952, at Moscow, where they made their home. Mr. Boone ran green pea harvest crews along the breaks of the Snake River until 1959. The couple moved to Palouse in August of 1960 where they farmed and raised their two children. He retired from farming in the early 1990s.

He served as a director on boards for the Palouse Grain Growers, Palouse Grange Supply, Palouse Fire District Commission, and the Palouse School District. He was chairman when the school burned in 1976. Mr. Bone was instrumental in the development of the Garfield/Palouse Cooperative School system in 1986. He also served as Palouse building inspector.

He enjoyed sporting events and watching his children and grandchildren play and his son Tom referee.

Tom enjoyed building and constructed the sign for the State football championship that stands in front of the school at Palouse. Tom and Donna Jean enjoyed woodworking and attending craft shows until her death in January of 2009.

After a chance meeting and whirlwind courtship he met and married Donna Ethel McSwane Rosebeary from Massachusetts. They were married Sept. 29, 2009, at Coeur d’Alene.

Survivors include his wife Donna .; one son Tom (Sandy) Boone, one daughter, Laurie Perry, all of Palouse; one brother Dan (Nancy) Boone, Pullman; one sister, Jeanine Block, Ozark, Mo .; five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; and step children, Keith (Angela) Rosebeary, Fairbanks, Alaska; Kevin (Linda) Rosebeary, Phoenix and Tina (Reed) McDonald, Marshfield, Mass.

Memorials may be given to the Palouse EMS, Box 250, Palouse, 99161.

Allen Blackledge

A private family graveside service for Allen Blackledge, 62, will be Friday, April 30, at Goldenrod Cemetery in Tekoa. Mr. Blackledge died Saturday, April 24, at Allenmore Hospital in Tacoma.

Born Oct. 27, 1947, at Yakima, to Johnnie C. and Ruth Hayes Blackledge, he was raised in the Yakima area, attending grade school and high school in Selah where he graduated in 1966. He then attended Yakima Valley College and Central Washington University at Ellensburg where he received his degree in accounting.

Mr. Blackledge was a self employed Certified Public Accountant in the Tacoma area for most of his life. Allen was an avid hunter and fisherman.

Survivors include three brothers, Arden Blackledge of Redmond; Garvin Blackledge of Oakesdale, and Garlyn Blackledge of Delta Junction, Alaska, and his mother, Ruth Blackledge of Oakesdale.

Martha L. Brown

Martha L. Brown, 58, of Sequim, died April 16, 2010. A service will not be conducted in accordance with her request.

Born at Spirit Lake, Idaho, April 27, 1951, to Lloyd and Marjorie Thompson Wilson, she was raised in Endicott where she attended the schools from kindergarten through her senior year.

She lived in many places including the Island of Hawaii and the Sequim area for over 20 years. A registered nurse for over 20 years, she enjoyed gardening and riding horses.

An earlier marriage to Jay Brown ended in divorce, and she married Rodney M. McCall at the McCall Angus Ranch near Winona Sept. 23, 2006.

She is survived by her husband, Rodney; a son Jaime Brown of Puget Sound; daughters Engre Brown and Ellison Brown of Puget Sound; and mother Marjorie Brown of Yuma, Ariz .; two brothers; two sisters and one grandchild.

Hans Petersen

A memorial service for Hans Knut Petersen, 30, a member of the 1998 class of Colfax High School will be Tuesday, May 4, at 2:30 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church in Colfax. A funeral service was April 11 in Berkeley, Calif. Mr. Petersen died April 7, 2010, from injuries sustained when he fell while working on a roof in the Bay area.

He was the son of the Rev. Glenn and Carol Petersen who served Peace Lutheran here for many years and now serve Central Lutheran Church in Anchorage, Alaska.

Born Nov. 26, 1979, in Newport Beach, Calif., he moved to Colfax with his family in 1991 when he was in the fifth grade.

He competed in track and cross county, and played trumpet in the high school jazz band.

He then attended Oberlin College in Ohio where he also played trumpet, ran on the cross country team and sang bass with the Obertones.

After graduation in 2002, he traveled with his brother Carl to Tanzania and then worked for two years with the Oberlin Historical Society.

He later worked as a volunteer at Holden Village in the North Cascades and then for a private school in Seattle.

In the fall of 2006 he began studies at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley.

He took a leave of absence after two years and worked as a carpenter and then for Solar City.

Surviving in addition to his parents and brother is a sister, Dr. Thea Petersen, Billings, Mont.

Maxine Scharffer

Maxine Danielson Scharffer, 85, died April 13, 2010, at her home in Spokane. Rosary was April 16, at the Heritage Funeral Home. Funeral Mass followed at the Jesuit House Chapel in Spokane.

Born at a doctor’s office in Oakesdale Dec. 29, 1924, to Clarence and Beulah Danielson, she worked during World War II at the Galena payroll office. Later she worked at Riverside Warehouse in Spokane and the Soil Conservation in Oakesdale. She married Donald Scharffer April 9, 1947.

After her marriage she worked at Hanford and White Pine Lumber Company in Spokane. She was a member of the Sacred Heart Church Altar Society for more than 35 years and a member of the Forest Center Grandmother’s Club, long before the time she herself was a grandmother. A devoted wife and loving mother, she and her husband operated the family farm and dairy at Valley for more than 35 years.

Mr. Scharffer died in 2003.

Surviving are two daughters, Donna Scharffer and Lettie Clark, both of Spokane; two brothers, Eldon (Shirley) Danielson, Fort Collins, Colo. and Floyd (SharonLee) Danielson, Bandon, Oregon; and two granddaughters.

The family suggests memorial donations go to The Holy Names Music Center at Fort Wright, 3910 W Custer Dr., Spokane, 99224.

http://www.heritagefunerals.com

Larry Lee Stern

A memorial service for Larry Lee Stern, 71, long time resident of the Elberton-Garfield area, will be Friday, April 30, at 11 a.m. in the Garfield Christian Church with the Rev. King Rockhill officiating.

He died Friday, April 23, 2010, at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.

Born March 20, 1939, at Garfield to William and Maxine Wilmes Stern, he grew up on the family farm and graduated from Garfield High School in 1958. He married the love of his life, Judi Byrne, Oct. 25, 1958. They spent 51 wonderful years together raising four children.

He farmed for 25 years in the Elberton-Garfield area. He also was employed at the J.E. Love Co. in Garfield and the Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in Colfax for a few years. Larry also worked at WSU until retiring due to illness. He received a liver transplant March 6, 2006, and that gave him four more years of life.

He was a past member of the Ladow Grange, Garfield Fire Dept., Garfield – Palouse Gun Club, Moscow Elks and Colfax Eagles, United Brethren Church, and, at the time of his death, was a member of the Whitman County Transplant Fund Organization.

He loved the very many good times spent with his family at the family pond. The transplant allowed him to watch his family grow. He also enjoyed visiting with his many friends and trips to the casino.

Surviving are his wife, Judi, at the Elberton Heights home; three daughters, Alice (Brian) Rager, Garfield; Sue (Monte) Elder, Palouse; Sally (Tracey) Wickizer, Colfax; one son, Tom ( Julie Hickman) Stern, Fairfield; one sister Judy (Dale) Morasch, Colfax; one brother, Bill (Hap) Stern, Garfield; nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials go to the Whitman County Transplant Fund, Box 251, St. John, 99171 or the Whitman Community Hospital Foundation, Colfax, 99111.

Marge Swift Ray

A graveside service for Marge Swift Ray, 77, former Colfax resident, was Tuesday morning, April 27, at the Baptist Church Cemetery in Elkin, N.C. She died Sunday, April 25, 2010, at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin.

Born Nov. 6, 1932, to Alvin and Gladys Gillespie Swift, she was raised on the family farm in the Diamond area. She attended grade school in Endicott and high school in Colfax where she graduated with the class of 1950. She married Worth Ray, Jr., in 1950 and they resided at Colfax and then in the Diamond area to work on the family farm. They moved 48 years ago to North Carolina which was the home area of the Ray family.

She was a member of Elkin Valley Baptist Church where she was a Sunday school teacher for the Encouragers Class.

Mrs. Ray was preceded in death by her husband in November of 2008.

Surviving are a daughter Marilyn (Tommy) Adams, of Harrisburg, N.C .; a sister, Esther Anderson, Benton City, and two grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to Elkin Valley Baptist Church Building Fund 118 N Elkin Drive Elkin, N.C. 28061 or Providence Baptist Church Building Fund, PO Box 335 Harrisburg, NC 28075.

Online condolences may be made at http://www.elkinfuneralservice.com.