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Virginia Marian Hunsaker
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January 25, 1912 ~ June 26, 2013 |
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July 5, 2013 |
Virginia Marian (Bloomer) Hunsaker, 101, passed
peacefully on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 in the
Extended Care Unit of Boundary Community
Hospital in Bonners Ferry.
There are no words that can accurately encompass
all that she meant to her family and the throngs
of people whose lives she touched over the past
century.
Marian was born into a Baptist farm family in
Walnut Grove, Missouri, on January 25, 1912. She
was raised as a true child of the Ozarks and
remained so through her last days. Her lineage
is steeped in the mystery of old Americana. As a
wife, mother, grandmother and caretaker, that
unique and all-but-forgotten sensibility
permeated every facet of her life, speech,
thought and legacy.
At seventeen years of age, her life was almost
cut short by a tragic accident in which she lost
one of her legs. For 84 more years she lived as
a true representative of all that was “the
Greatest Generation.” The Great Depression,
World Wars I and II, Korea and all of the
upheaval in the latter part of the last century
could not break her spirit, nor turn her
optimism into bitterness. She always exclaimed,
“It’ll all be alright, if we just don’t falter!”
She never did!
Her travels took her from Missouri to Los
Angeles and Porterville, California; Coeur
d’Alene, and eventually Bonners Ferry. She spent
decades in each location living life to the
utmost and added to the richness of her family
and community.
Her story is one of a strong, proud and generous
American woman who positively influenced
everyone who had the privilege of knowing her.
Undoubtedly, Heaven will now learn how to truly
appreciate Southern cooking!
Thanks are due to all of her friends and helpers
at the Boundary County Extended Care Facility
who aided her for ten years. She was born into
rural America and lived out her days in a
friendly, caring and familiar place.
Marian was preceded in death by her husband
Charlie (1949), her many siblings and her eldest
son Charles (2013).
She is survived by sons Tom of Clarkston,
Washington, and Jerry of Bonners Ferry. She had
seven grandchildren, numerous great
grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
She was a woman of few words and steady
temperament. As the family matriarch, her story
is best told by those she left behind and
blessed with the vivid picture of how wonderful
and rewarding a long life in this country can
be. All of Marian’s family members will miss her
dearly and will never forget her humor, gift for
delicious food, life adventure, fortitude and
her comforting presence. |
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