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June R. Ripatti
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December 7, 1925 ~ December 30, 2013 |
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December 30, 2013 |
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| June
Ripatti, surrounded by her family at a
late Christmas celebration December 28. |
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June R. Ripatti, 88, passed away on December 30,
2013 at her Copeland Area home. Funeral Services
will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 11, at
the Bonners Ferry Funeral Home, with interment
following in the in the Copeland Cemetery.
Following the graveside service, family, friends
and neighbors are invited to share a potluck
meal in celebration of June’s life at the
Copeland Hall.
 "We had a late Christmas at Grandma June
Ripatti's house on Saturday, December 28th,"
Kelli Ripatti wrote the day of her grandmother's
passing. "She spent most of the day snuggled in
her bed in the living room while chaos reigned
around her. Balloons were batted back and forth,
and we held our breath as one slowly drifted
down upon our slumbering grandma. Without
missing a beat, she reached her frail arm up and
batted that balloon right back to us! She was
the gamester in our family. Many days were
passed drinking lattes and playing Yahtzee,
Aggravation, and any card game she could think
of. Today, she left us. I am so thankful we had
one last game with our Grandma! She was loved by
many and will be missed by all she left behind."
June was born in Inman, Virginia, to Tom and
Sally Ann (Rutherford) Collins on December 7,
1925. She was raised as a “coal miner’s
daughter” in a large, 10 children, musically
inclined family in the hills around Inman. After
working for a short time in a munitions factory
during World War II, she rode the bus with her
sister, Bonnie Karnes, to Bonners Ferry in 1943.
June met Daniel Ripatti at a dance at the
Copeland Hall, and they got married July 13,
1946, in Kalispell, Montana. They had three
children: Danette, 1947, Mike 1948 and Steve,
1949. They made their home in Copeland near the
Kootenai River at the end of what is now Flat
House Road in Drainage District 6.
Their home was flooded in 1948 and again
threatened by flood in 1954 and 1956, so they
moved over to a log house on 40 acres that they
had purchased from Jim Karnes on the hillside
above the old K.V. Railroad.
June and Dan made their living from a small herd
of about 40 head of beef cattle, and they
supplemented their income in the winter by ice
fishing on the Kootenai River with set lines for
ling. June was the main “bate" catcher of
minnows for the set lines.
She also helped Dan brand and dehorn cattle and
put up hay. Dan and June raised most of their
own food, so June was always busy working in the
large garden, canning fruit and vegetables,
plucking chickens and more.
June loved to fish, go huckleberry picking, play
card games, and go to dances at the community
halls. In the winter time, the pinochle parties
would sometimes last until 5 a.m.
June was preceded in death by her mom and dad,
all but one of her nine brothers and sisters and
her husband Dan Ripatti in March, 2005. She
continued to live at her home alone until her
death.
She is survived by her three children: Danette
Ripatti Studer and husband HC of Copeland,
Idaho; Mike Ripatti, Copeland, Idaho; and Steve
Ripatti and wife Linda of Watsonville,
California. She is also survived by five
grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and
numerous nieces and nephews.
Family and friends are invited to sign June’s
book at
www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements are entrusted to the care of
Bonners Ferry Funeral Home. |
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