Eunice Powell

Eunice Powell

Eunice Carolyn Johnson Powell our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, of Richfield, Idaho, formerly of Mountain Home, passed from this life on Friday, Dec. 6, 2013, peacefully at home.

Eunice was born on Dec. 17, 1927, in Weed, Calif. She was the ninth and youngest child to Oscar and LaVerne Johnson.

Eunice has been a resident of Richfield, Idaho, since 1942.

She met and married the love of her life, James Powell, in May of 1947. Together they had four children, Carolyn, Freddy, Christa and James Jr. They also over the years took in over 50 different kids who needed to learn the value of hard work and the love of a family.

They were the pioneers in bringing dairy farming to Richfield when everyone else was raising row crops.

During this time, Eunice supplemented the farm work by doing income taxes and bookkeeping for many people around Richfield.

In 1986, they retired to a house in downtown Richfield. Even after retirement, Eunice continued to do taxes for the community.

She was one of the first QRU members in the state of Idaho and was a volunteer EMT for 17 years. She found time to volunteer for the American Legion Auxiliary and was the director of Girls State. She was also a Richfield Tiger mom, and a senior citizen drill team.

Her most beloved volunteer activity was doing the stats for the Richfield High School boys' and girls' basketball, and girls' volleyball teams. She loved being with the kids and traveling on the bus to all the games around the state. She received the Duane Wolf Award from the Idaho High School Athletic Association for her 23 years of service to Athletics. She was also awarded the Richfield Hall of Fame Award for her many years of volunteer service to her community.

One of her favorite pastimes was fishing with her kids, grandkids and friends. She could outfish every single one of us. She could catch fish when no one else could even get a bite.

She was famous for making quilts and dolls for all of her family members and friends and has passed that talent on to her kids and grandkids. She would make quilts and dolls for everyone she knew for every event she could think of.

Eunice and Jim were expert card players. They loved to play cards with their friends and family. Any night at their farmhouse you could find them playing cards and all were welcome to join in. They were sure to teach all of their grandkids how to play cards, too. To this day, Eunice has the best score in Gin Rummy.

Eunice also had a great love for music. She played the fiddle for many dances and encouraged her kids and grandkids to learn to play an instrument.

In her later years, Eunice volunteered for the Richfield senior center, and was site director for many years. She was one of the best senior citizen joke tellers in the valley.

Eunice was preceded in her passing by her husband, James Powell, and son Fred W. Powell.

She is survived by her children, Carolyn J. (Snoey) King, Christa A. Lucero (Ed ), James W. Powell Jr. (Joy), grandchildren James Snoey, Eric Snoey, Nicole Edgar (Monte), Melissa Arenz Stein (Ray ), Candace Lucero Pearson (Joe), Jessica Hull (Scott), Janin Powell, Mitch Lucero (Acee) Joshua Powell, Rouven Wagner (Gaby), 16 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

She will be forever loved and dearly missed.