Virginia Marian Hunsaker

Virginia Marian (Bloomer) Hunsaker, 101 passed peacefully on Wednesday, June 26th , 2013 in the Extended Care Unit of Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. There are no words that can accurately encompass all that she meant to her family and the throngs of people whose lives she touched over the past century. Marian was born into a Baptist farm family in Walnut Grove, Missouri on January 25th, 1912. She was raised as a true child of the Ozarks and remained so through her last days. Her lineage is steeped in the mystery of old Americana. As a wife, mother, grandmother and caretaker, that unique and all-but-forgotten sensibility permeated every facet of her life, speech, thought and legacy. At seventeen years of age, her life was almost cut short by a tragic accident in which she lost one of her legs. For 84 more years she lived as a true representative of all that was “the Greatest Generation.” The Great Depression, World Wars I and II, Korea and all of the upheaval in the latter part of the last century could not break her spirit, nor turn her optimism into bitterness. She always exclaimed, “It’ll all be alright, if we just don’t falter!” She never did! Her travels took her from Missouri to Los Angeles and Porterville, California; Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho and eventually Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She spent decades in each location living life to the utmost and added to the richness of her family and community. Her story is one of a strong, proud and generous American woman that positively influenced everyone who had the privilege of knowing her. Undoubtedly, Heaven will now learn how to truly appreciate Southern cooking! Thanks are due to all of her friends and helpers at the Boundary County Extended Care Facility who aided her for ten years. She was born into rural America and lived out her days in a friendly, caring and familiar place. Marian was preceded in death by her husband Charlie (1949), her many siblings and her eldest son Charles (2013). She is survived by two sons Tom of Clarkston, Washington and Jerry of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. She had seven grandchildren, numerous great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. She was a woman of few words and steady temperament. As the family matriarch, her story is best told by those she left behind and blessed with the vivid picture of how wonderful and rewarding a long life in this country can be. All of Marian’s family members will miss her dearly and will never forget her humor, gift for delicious food, life adventure, fortitude and her comforting presence.