Bernice L. Cone

L. Bernice Cone, 82, died at home in Moyie Springs on December 26, 2010. A Celebration of Life Gathering will be held on Saturday, April 2, 2011, Lunch at 12:00 noon and Rememberance starting at 1:00pm. Interment will be in the Grandview Cemetery, Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She was born on October 14, 1928 in Boise, Idaho to Elbert and Lotus R. Cone. Bernice was preceded in death by her father, mother and two brothers. The family lived in southern Idaho until they moved to Bonners Ferry From Gooding in 1944. Bernice graduated from Bonners ferry High School in 1946. She received her nurse’s training certificate at St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, graduating in 1949 with an RN certificate. She then returned home and worked as Dr. Fred Durose’s office nurse for two years. In 1951 she moved to Boise and joined the nursing staff at the Veterans Hospital. It was here that she met Carol Pomeroy, also a nurse at the veterans administration hospital. They enjoyed yearly trips to Bonners Ferry to visit Bernice’s father. While on these trips they helped in Cones Grocery and Café. In 1961 Mr. Cone’s health was poor so he asked the tow to join them as partners in the family business. Here they made so many friends and loved visiting with them over coffee and pie or a great hamburger, fried and monster shakes. An what child growing up in Bonners Ferry during those years could forget Bernice’s two-fisted ho hollow center ice cream cones. The store also employed a great many local residents during those years who weren’t just employees, but part of an extended family. It was a gathering place for folks and family to eat, talk and enjoy the food and company from breakfast around 5am to dinner sometime after 10pm or later. Bernice’s grill barely had time to cool down from closing until heating up at breakfast again. In January 1976 they bought Irwin Floor Covering and moved it into a new building near the Grocery-café. In marker of 1985 they sold the business to Gene and Carol McCoy and dissolved the family corporation. The next 12 years they spent cleaning church and helping with lawn care, doctor’s appointments, errands and son on. In 1997 Bernice and Carol retired and built their new home in Moyie Springs on the rim with a beautiful view of the Moyie and Kootenai River Canyon. Bernice never tired of watching all the birds, the eagles and the deer. Family and friends are invited to sign Bernice’s book at www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.