Sunny Ray Blake

Sunny passed away unexpectedly `6, 2011 at his Northside home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Sunny was a resident of Boundary County for more than ten years and greatly enjoyed his time here during his disability/ retirement. He suffered from diabetes and numerous other ailments that he had accumulated over the years of his colorful life. He enjoyed fishing and camping around our many beautiful lakes and enjoyed telling tales of his very interesting past to his friends. Sunny was born in Roseburg, Oregon to Constance Ann (Agee) and Lee E. Stevens. Sunny said that his mother and father both had Native American heritage. Sunny would tell stories about his grandfather Harley Agee's store and farm near Roseburg during Sunny's growing up years. As a teen, Sunny moved with his parents and half-brothers to Alaska and told stories of their homesteading claim they worked in the 1960s. Sunny was drafted into the Navy in 1963 and serving early in and around Vietnam/Cambodia. He later worked as a steel worker, mechanic, and truck driver all over the United States, spending many of his adult years in southern California. Newman Lake and Colville, Washington; later, Hayden, and Sandpoint, Idaho were other places he called home. Sunny seemed rather gruff upon first impression, but was much softer once you got to know him, surprising his friends with gifts and/or wonderful food he had prepared from his own talented recipes. Sunny enjoyed his computer and internet and kept in touch on Skype and Uvoo with his friends, particularly Steve Tunison and Randy Poston. Sunny was preceded in death by his mother and father and numerous half-brothers. He was the only child of his mother, although he had half-brothers who were much older from his father's previous marriage. Sunny told of being married multiple times, but sadly had not had contact with his sons, born in the late 1960s, in 40 years or more. Sunny considered his friends to be his real family, many of whom he had met in the vans of the Ziegwied's North Country Transportation Services over the previous decade. Sunny enjoyed riding with North Country over the years and became good friends with the drivers Mike Ziegwied, George Mobley and Peggy Tong (and their families), as well as Lavonne Gilliland, Bear and Mary Ann Bean, Gene and Sam McKinney, and Ginny Brooks among others. Sunny spoke fondly of Pam Hartman who was instrumental in helping him get on his feet when he moved to Bonners Ferry in the late 1990's. He also spoke fondly of his caregiver Linda Mabee, who Sunny considered to be the finest caregiver he ever had. Sunny made his wishes known to his friends that he did not want a funeral service, but he will always be remembered by his friends as an independent man who was a true character.