Vestal: Obits Tell A Town’s Story

One obituary is a portrait of an individual. Several are a portrait of a place. The obituaries of recent weeks told a tale of the Inland Northwest that included veterans and businessmen, teachers and prosecuting attorneys, nurses and restaurateurs. Here, summarized, are some of them:

• As a young woman, Ruth G. Cunningham drove a forklift at the Kaiser rolling mill during World War II. A Coeur d’Alene native, she taught school in Coeur d’Alene and Dishman, before taking time off to raise her daughters. She returned to teaching in Central Valley in 1966. She married Cecil Cunningham in 1947; because Cecil had been a prisoner of war for more than three years in Japan
• An impeccable dresser and gracious host, Elizabeth “Betty” Bellefeuille loved working at the NorthTown Crescent department store. She suffered severe Alzheimer’s disease during her last years, but her family remembers all the life that came before: teaching her grandchildren to play poker, always having cookies or brownies ready, her legendary Jell-O salad/Shawn Vestal, SR. More here.

Question: Do you read the newspaper’s obituaries regularly?