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Edith Marjorie King Robinson Ciskowski |
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December 24, 1918 ~ September 24, 2015 |
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September 30, 2015 |
 Edith
Ciskowski passed away on September 24, 2015 at
the Restorium, which became her retirement home
with an incredibly caring staff that truly loved
her. Services will be at St. Ann’s Catholic
Church, 6712 El Paso street in Bonners Ferry at
11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 3, 2015. A lunch
will be served following the service, and
interment will be at the Porthill Cemetery at
1:30 p.m.
Edith was born on December 24, 1918 in Porthill,
Idaho, to Ernest Daniel King and Mabel Mary
Smith King. Edith lived with her family in a
vertical log home built by her father on a
section of old Highway 95 known as King’s Row a
few miles from Porthill until the death of
father when Edith was 4. Edith’s maternal
Grandfather, Wm. Henry Smith, was the Canadian
Border Patrol Officer at the Porthill border
crossing when she was growing up. She and her
brothers crossed the border into Canada on a
regular basis to visit their grandparents. Edith
and her brothers attended the Montgomery and
Lindbergh schools from 1st through 8th grade.
Getting to school was nothing like today, they
had to cross the Kootenai River in an open boat
every day and then walk another two miles one
way to school. In the winter they were sometimes
able to walk across on the ice.
Edith married George Robinson on August 5, 1935.
They had two children, Rod and Donna. They
celebrated 52 years of marriage before George
died of lung cancer in 1986. She married Joseph
Ciskowski in 1988 and Joe died in 2002.
Edith is survived by her son, Rod Robinson and
daughter-in-law, Jeannie of Bonners Ferry,
Idaho, her daughter Donna Robinson Bakman and
her son-in-law Ernest Bakman of Hayden, Idaho,
and her step son, Joe Ciskowski of East Sound
(Orcas Island), Washington. Her seven grand
children, Linda Bruno of Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho,Alan Soderling of Dalton Gardens, Idaho,
Craig Soderling of Hayden, Idaho, Jim Robinson
of Bonners Ferry, Karen Robinson of Bonners
Ferry, Brett Coppess of Hayden, Idaho and Bruce
Coppess of Dalton Gardens, Idaho, Step
grandchildren Kristi and Vern Wilson, Travis and
Kelly Hinthorn and 18 great grandchildren.
Edith’s father died when he was 38. After his
death her mother married Charles Leder of
Porthill. Edith is survived by four of her seven
siblings; Hartley King of Bonners Ferry, Charles
Leder of Lewiston, Idaho, Jane Leder Plemmons of
Corvallis, Oregon, and Adeline Leder Britton of
Grants Pass, Oregon.
In the early days of her marriage to George
Robinson, Edith learned to cook by cooking for
farm crews in the Kootenai Valley. They loved
her cooking because she knew how to cook steak
and bake pies best so that’s what she cooked the
most. George made her a pair of cross country
skis and she skied miles a day in the winter
time often carrying a food bucket of lunch or
dinner to George for his meal while he was at
work. George and Edith, with the help of brother
Hartley, built a log cabin on the Moyie River at
Meadow Creek where they became lifelong friends
to the Kinder family. They also spent a couple
of years working at the Continental Mine up
Boundary Creek. They were married seven years
before Rod was born and he spent his first
winter of life at the Continental Mine where the
snow got deeper than most of the houses were
tall.
Edith spent her entire life in Boundary County
except for 2 summers when both George and her
worked at a fruit processing plant in Puyallup,
Washington, and in 1945 they both worked at the
Torpedo Station in Bremerton, Washington. They
came back to Bonners and bought a farm and sold
milk until the Kootenai River flooded in 1949
when they moved to Smelterville where George
worked in the Spokane Idaho Mine up Pine Creek
for the next three years. After Edith’s brother,
Melville, was killed in that mine the family
made a final move back to Bonners Ferry onto
property 11 miles North of town.
Many of you were probably one of her 4-H kids.
She began learning about the 4-H program when
her daughter, Donna, wanted to take 4-H at age
10. She continued to work with the program as a
leader and received an award for 30 years of
service. She had some very interesting stories
to tell about taking kids to the 4-H camps. She
followed that up by becoming the Boundary County
Fair Secretary and retired from that in 1987.
During these years she judged 4-H clothing
construction and 4-H cooking at almost all the
North Idaho County Fairs.
Edith worked alongside George, Rod and Donna in
the family sawmill operation on the Rock Creek
property where many, many railroad ties were cut
and driven to the rail head for income along
with all the wood for her new home which she
helped build.
Edith planted a garden, had an orchard, raised
about 100 chickens a year, along with pigs and a
cow. She sewed all hers and Donna’s clothes and
canned everything that was needed to get through
those long North Idaho winters. In the middle
1960’s Edith and George opened a Montgomery
Ward’s store on South Main Street in Bonners
Ferry. She was instrumental in starting the
Cancer Society in Boundary County and spent many
hours working and volunteering for the Society
and formed many lasting friendships. She also
worked on the Boundary County History Book, and
after retirement she volunteered several summers
at the Visitor’s Center.
She went through all the chairs in the Pythian
Sisters Lodge and the Royal Neighbors Lodge. She
became a life insurance agent for the Royal
Neighbors during the 50’s and 60’s and also sold
Avon and Tupperware in the 60’s and 70’s.
Edith was preceded in death by her parents,
Ernest King and Mabel Leder, two husbands,
George Robinson and Joseph Ciskowski, brothers
Melville King and Gene Leder, and sister Gladys
Leder Plemmons, her Great Granddaughter,
Brooklyn Coppess and Great Grandson, Justin
Caswell.
The family requests that Memorials be given to
the Friends of the Restorium, P.O. Box 1362,
Bonners Ferry, ID 83805. |
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