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Nancy Starks Stephens
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July 29, 1932 ~ March 24, 2013 |
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July 23, 2013 |
 Nancy
Starks Stephens of Mesa, Arizona, passed away,
peacefully in her sleep on March 24, 2013,
following a long illness. Services will be held
at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27, at Grandview
Cemetery, Bonners Ferry, followed by a gathering
at the Bonners Ferry United Methodist Church.
She was born in Pendleton, Oregon, on July 29,
1932, to Lloyd and Ellen (Keller) Starks. The
Starks family moved to Bonners Ferry, where
Nancy attended Northside School and graduated
from Bonners Ferry High School in 1951. She was
a majorette and sang in a quintet.
She attended nursing school at St. Anthony
Hospital in Pendleton, Oregon.
She married Wayne Edward Stephens at the First
Methodist Church in Bonners Ferry, with a
reception following in the flower garden of her
family home on August 2, 1953. They moved to
Moscow, Idaho, where she worked as a nurse’s
aide, and began a family.
Nancy lived in Weiser, Idaho where she was
active in the Methodist Church and served as
president of the PTA. The family moved to Nampa,
Idaho, and Portland, Oregon, before beginning
service on the Crow Indian Reservation, Crow
Agency, Montana, and then moved to the Standing
Rock Sioux Reservation, Fort Yates, North
Dakota. She made many friends and worked on
learning the Sioux language. She continued to be
active in her church and taught Sunday School.
She moved to Billings, Montana, in 1971 and to
Huntley, Montana, in 1975. In Huntley, she was
one of the first ranchers in Montana to raise
registered polled Brahman cattle. She worked
tirelessly on the ranch and cared for her
mother, Ellen Starks, in the last years of her
life.
She retired to Mesa, Arizona in 1990, where she
served as a member the Mesa Shadows Homeowners
Association and was active in organizing
community activities.
She is survived by four children, Dianna (Robb)
Pinkerton of Toulouse, France, Mark (Debbie)
Stephens of Kennewick Washington, Jeanne
(Robert) Jacobsen of Billings, Montana, and
Julia Stephens of Mesa, Arizona.
She enjoyed spending time with her eight
grandchildren, Jennifer Jacobsen, Tessa
Pinkerton, Alexandria Kottwitz, Tori Kottwitz,
Christine Jacobsen, Katie Jacobsen, Ethan
Pinkerton, and Austin Kottwitz, two
step-grandchildren, Angie Pirtz and Dan Pirtz,
as well as with her great granddaughter, Addison
Stephens.
She is also survived by her sister, Mary Ellen
Reser of Condon, Oregon.
She is preceded in death by her brothers Richard
Starks and Jack Starks.
She will be remembered as a wonderful caring
mother, grandmother and great grandmother, whose
family was her most precious gift. |
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