Elizabeth (Betty) I. O'Shea

Elizabeth Irmgard (Betty) O’Shea was born to Otto and Martha Mueller on February 7, 1920, in Oakland, California. Diagnosed with cancer on February 29, 2008, she peacefully passed away at her home near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, on March 11, 2008, at the age of 88. Our mother grew up in the Oakland Bay Area, the youngest of four children. She especially enjoyed the times spent working with her father on the family ranch in the Oakland foothills tending to their livestock. At the end of her school years, she took up work in the family’s wholesale and retail meat business in Oakland, where she met our father, Charles W. Saunders of Nashville, Tennessee. Our parents were married on February 3, 1940. After raising two daughters and one son there in California, our parents moved to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, in April of 1972. Our father only enjoyed their new farm home three short months before dying suddenly while visiting family at the nearby home of their daughter Sandra on July 29, 1972. Our mother took on the challenges of living alone in a brand-new area with great courage. She returned to California during the winter of 1975 to spend time with her family and help them care for their aged mother. During this time our mother became reacquainted with Francis (Sonny) O’Shea, a family friend who had lost his wife after a lengthy illness in 1972. They were married on July 12, 1975. Our stepfather fell in love with Boundary County just as our father had. He and our mother returned to Idaho in 1976, to make their home in the Moravia area south of Bonners Ferry. They enjoyed nearly 28 years together on their small farm by the old Moravia schoolhouse before our stepfather passed away on January 20, 2003, of congestive heart failure brought on by cancer. We remember our mother as a courageous lady who never wanted to bother anyone with her needs, but who was always ready to lend a helping hand to everyone else. In spite of suffering often from severe pain from arthritis and other health problems, she was a hard worker right to the last. While she wasn’t afraid of work, she always had time to point out the beauty of God’s handiwork—from the many flowers she loved to grow to the newborn calves she happily watched over as they frolicked in the pasture by her house. During her last days, our mother left a clear testimony of a quiet acceptance of God’s Will and a contented readiness to leave this life. She talked often of her thankfulness for the many blessings He had given her during her lifetime. She is survived by her son, Charles (Bud) Saunders, Discovery Bay, California; two daughters: Claudia and husband Tom Peterson, Bend, Oregon, and Sandra (Sandy) Ashworth, Bonners Ferry, Idaho: seven grandchildren; six great grandchildren; eight nieces and nephews; and her very special friends, Tom and Anita Foust and their family. Funeral services were held on March 17, 2008, at the Woodland Mennonite Church at 11 a.m., with burial at the Moravia Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Bonner Community Hospice. Family and friends are invited to sign Elizabeth’s online guest book at www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Bonners Ferry Funeral Homc.