Bertha Laverne Cunningham

Bertha LaVerne Cunningham (87) passed away on April 9, 2010 at the Wellspring Meadows Assisted Living in Hayden, Idaho. Graveside Services will be held on Friday, April 30, 2010 at 1:00pm in the Grandview Cemetery, Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Bertha was born on October 23, 1922 in Emmett, Idaho to Fred R. and Hazel Zella (Amidon) Rogers. She was the sixth of seven children and was preceded in death all but one sister Genevieve who lives in Lovelock, NV. They lived on a small fruit farm outside of Emmett and Bertha attended school there. Bertha married at a young age to James Stippich and bore two children to that marriage Delores (Stippich) Sweet and James Stippich. They moved to Boundary County in 1951. They were later divorced. While in Boundary County she worked at the Moyie Mill, Don’s Café, and Taft’s. She then married Richard D. Cunningham on December 23, 1958. They were married 51 years. Bertha and I lied on our place at Moyie where she enjoyed the garden, her yard and watching for deer, elk, turkeys and other animals. Bertha liked to can or freeze fruits and vegetables from her garden. At one time we spent some time working at Hanford and when the job was finished we stated home with our 28 foot trailer behind our ¾ ton Ford. At every little hill I had to shift down and thought the pickup was going to pot. When we got home to Moyie and unloaded the trailer I could understand what was wrong. There was canned stuff crammed into every nook and cranny in the trailer. Bertha loved to fish and stream fishing was her favorite, but if she saw a lake it was hard to keep her from throwing out a line. She also loved to camp out and go on hunts, but would not shoot an animal. Bertha often spent some of her camping time cleaning up messy camp sites. Bertha was preceded in death her brothers Maylon Rogers, of LaGrande, OR; Wallace Rogers, of Pasco, WA; Bernice Wihlon, of Gresham, OR; Myrtle Heynek of Idaho Falls, ID; Helen Moyer of Fruitland, ID.