Winnie Louise Stanley

April 22, 1919 ~ November 8, 2013
November 13, 2013
Winnie Louise Stanley, loving wife, mother, and grandmother, went to be in the presence of her heavenly father November 8, 2013. Visitation will be  from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, November 15, at the Bonners Ferry Funeral Home, with a meal and Life Celebration at the home of Gordon and Marlene Stanley at 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Graveside services at the Grandview Cemetery will be held at 2 p.m.

The family extends their invitation to join them.

She was born to Veranda Herman Wells and Rose Lee Duncan in Centerville, Arkansas, April 22, 1919, into a large family of 10 other children. She married Leon Smith and they had two children, Jim and Barbra Smith. After the loss of her first husband and father, she moved to California, where she worked as a waitress and fieldworker.

In 1946, she married Alva Stanley in Reno, Nevada. They made their home on the ranch in Bryson, California, where they raised their children Jim, Barbara, and Gordon. Winnie found delight in living on the ranch and being a homemaker. She loved gardening, fishing, sewing and canning the bounty of her harvest. She recalled many precious memories of family gatherings around the Thanksgiving table.

At the age of 57, she realized she needed God’s grace in her life and accepted his free gift of salvation. She served others through her local church. She helped in many vacation bible schools, served through her gift of hospitality, and spent many hours praying for the needs of others.

For the past 20 years she has been a resident of Boundary County. Living on her son Gordon’s ranch north of Bonners Ferry, she has lived a rich life filled with children and grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Herman and Rose Lee Wells, husbands Leon Smith and Alva Stanley, daughter Barbra Ellis, granddaughter Debbie McCarty and several siblings.

She is survived by two sons Jim Smith of Gerber, California, and Gordon Stanley and wife Marlene of Bonners Ferry, and sister Margie Anderson of Portland, Oregon, along with many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Family request donations to be made to Senior Companions of North Idaho, an organization that Winnie was deeply touch by. Thanks Sue.

Mom and Grandma you will be sadly missed, but we know Heaven's splendor is now in your sights.

Family and friends are invited to sign Winnie ’s book at www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.