Obituary: Rice, Della E.
Age 92
She was born August 27, 1922 to Leonard and Goulda Bower in Sandpoint, Idaho.
In the mid 1920’s the family moved to the remote mining town of Lakeview, Idaho, where her father worked in the silver mines until 1930.
At that time, they moved to a dairy farm near Addy, Washington, and again in 1936 to Endicott, WA, where her mother opened her first beauty salon in the living room of their small house.
Della graduated from Endicott High in 1939 and moved to Spokane, where she earned a certificate from the Kelsey-Baird school of business.
She worked for the Deatherage-Daly insurance company until the spring of 1942, when she accepted a job with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Coulee Dam, WA.
On Sunday, March 8, 1942, she arrived in Coulee Dam on the bus from Spokane, 19 years old, and knowing not a soul there.
Coulee Dam became her home for the next 42 years, where she met her husband, Wesslie S. Rice, of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, and raised her family.
After her marriage, she worked at the community hospital, and later on as city clerk for the town of Coulee Dam.
She contracted polio in 1951, and spent a month in the hospital.
Afterwards, she walked with a limp, but got around quite well.
She was proud of the fact that she was able to purchase a house for her mother, across the street from her own, with her own earnings.
In 1984, after several years of retirement, they moved to Spokane, where they resided on N. Drumheller Street.
Wes passed away in 1991, and in 1998 Della and her mother moved to Clarkston, Washington to be closer to family.
Goulda passed away in 1999, and Della lived in Clarkston until her death.
She is survived by her sons, John Rice of Clarkston, and Doug Rice of Tucson, Arizona.
No services are planned.