Martha Lee 'Jo' Gillard
Jo
Gillard passed away on August 19, 2011, in Mt.
Vernon, Washington. There will be a graveside
service at 2 p.m. Saturday, August 27, at
Grandview Cemetery in Bonners Ferry.Martha Lee “Jo” was born October 8, 1922, to William and Myrtle Caughey in Twin Falls, Idaho. She joined her older sisters Carlene and Cleora. Her older brother Neal died at age two. Billie Jean, who was born two years after Mom, died of sleeping sickness at age six. They moved to Bonners Ferry, where she enjoyed her childhood living near the Busy Bee School with her family.
She met the love of her life, Cliff Gillard, in Bonners Ferry High School and the fun has not stopped for nearly 70 years. They celebrated 68 years of marriage on June 1. Their life was always filled with hard work and adventure. They loved to ride motorcycles, travel in their pickup and later the motor home, camp and all of the family outings at Herman Lake.
During their courtship, a typical Saturday would involve Dad riding his bicycle from Cow Creek to her house near the Busy Bee School. There she would ride the cross bar to town to see a matinee at the Rex Theatre and then back home. Then Dad would show her off by riding up and down Main Street on the bike. Grandpa Caughey asked dad to not do that and ride the back roads. Sorry Grandpa, she was too cute for that!! And Mom, really, 12 miles on a bicycle cross bar?? It HAD to be love!!! And Dad, you must have been in a lot better shape than now, huh?
They also loved to square dance and round dance and were very active with the Kootenai Kloggers square dance club. Mom always had the cutest dresses and made sure Dad had a shirt to match. It was here they met their lifelong friends, Madge and Don Roberts, Betty and Lee Galbraith and Ray and Erma Merrifield.
Together, they built their business, Kootenai Kustom Body Shop, at the current site of Oriental Gardens Restaurant, until they retired in 1985. Mom was the head sander, masker, paint mixer and loved to work on the cars as much as Dad did. They worked in half of the shop while they lived in the other half with their young daughters Ronnee and Diana. The business began to grow and Grandpa Caughey built the “fancy” house next door. Once they moved into the house, they encountered another surprise. Tanjer, their son, was born.
As we grew as a family, we all became involved in 4H. Mom was very involved leading a lot of cooking meetings at our house and rooting them on. Most of the time, the results were good, but sometimes things didn’t always turned out as planned. Thank goodness she was patient with all of the kids.
One of our favorite memories of Mom was that she could out belch and arm wrestle all of Tanjer’s friends. They were amazed and so were we. Sorry Mom, we had to let people know that!!
After retirement and traveling, Mom and Dad became regulars at the casino playing the penny slots. Their favorite was Kenny Rogers and Easter Island. They made many friends there and enjoyed visiting even more than playing the slots. They also enjoyed Bingo at the Senior Center. They sold the shop to Walt and Kim Nue and watched it transform into the Oriental Gardens Restaurant. Once the restaurant opened, a new chapter of their lives opened up. We are still not sure who adopted who, but it was clear that Kim and Walt were the “new kids” of our family. It was much more than friendship, and it brought huge happiness to all of us.
Mom loved and enjoyed her family and her grandsons and their families: Darin with wife Heidi and son Mathias, Tony with wife Jen and kids Zoe and Zak, and Shawn.
Mom, thanks so much for teaching us how to cook, clean, sew, work hard, give more than you ask in return, watch over others, give the benefit of the doubt, make fun out of nothing, laugh at ourselves but more than anything live and love. Our lives were molded by her many talents. She will be greatly missed.
There will never be a day when she is not remembered.
You will live on in our hearts and memories forever. We will never say goodbye, just ‘see you later,’ as we will be together again. So, save us a good spot upstairs and enjoy your time with your family until we arrive.
Family and friends are invited to sign Jo’s book at www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.