Obituaries

John L. Minkes

John L. Minkes, 47, of Grand Coulee, Wash., died in Spokane on Sunday, Sept. 12. He was born in Rock Springs on June 21, 1957, to Leeroy and Amelia (Pulley) Minkes. He attended grade school in Farson and moved with his family to the Grand Coulee Dam area, where he graduated from Lake Roosevelt High School in 1975.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1975 until 1979. He moved back to the Grand Coulee Dam area and married Ellen Goetz in Grand Coulee on Oct. 18, 1980. He went to work for Sunrise Disposal in the early ‘80s. He worked approximately 10 years before going to work for the City of Grand Coulee, where he worked up until his death.

His true passions were spending time with his wife and daughter, fishing and hunting. John was a very giving father and husband who would go to no end to do anything for anybody. He was a very loyal friend and loved the Seattle Mariners.

He is survived by his wife, Ellen Minkes of Grand Coulee, and one daughter, Lacee Minkes, and her special friend, Jason Olsen, of Grand Coulee; his mother, Amelia Minkes; his grandmother, Irene Pulley and one brother, Conrad Minkes, all of Pinedale.

Sarah C. Chaffin

Sarah C. Chaffin, 10, of Green River died Oct. 27, 2004, at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City due to complications from heart surgery.

She was born in Jackson Hole on June 3, 1994. She lived in Pinedale until she was 8, when she moved to Green River with her mother and two younger brothers. She was a fourth-grade student at Harrison Elementary School.

She was the ultimate light and strength to her family as well as the huge amount of friends she had.

Survivors include mother, Angelique Schwab Chaffin, of Green River; two younger brothers, Travis and Tanner Toussaint; father and stepmother Steven Toussaint and Jeanette Borino; grandparents Bruce and Sarah Schwab; great-grandparents Clarence and Jean Crater; uncle and aunt Walker and Elizabeth Schwab, all from Pinedale. She is also survived by grandparents J.R. and Frieda Salmon of Santa Ana, Calif., and countless other family and friends.

Boo - You are gone, but never ever forgotten.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004, at 1 p.m. in Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Pinedale. Interment followed the service in the Pinedale Cemetery.

Ruth Phoebe Humes Hardy

Services for Ruth Phoebe Humes Hardy will be Friday, Nov. 5, at 10 a.m. at Hudson’s Funeral Home, conducted by Perry Binning and Tony Boyce.

Ruth was born Jan. 10, 1902 in Nowata County, Okla., about eight miles from Coffeeville, Kan. She was one of 10 children born to Josiah and Phoebe Jane Humes. In 1920 she married Robert J. Hardy in Oklahoma. She was 18 and he was 39.

They lived on the family farm for the next two years, during which time their first daughter, Weenona, was born. In 1922, they headed west in a covered wagon that Bob built. They made it as far as Laramie, where they stopped to welcome their new addition to the family, daughter Vera. From there they continued on their journey West, spending some time living at Burnt Fork, Boulder and finally arriving in Pinedale in 1932.

For several winters they lived in Arizona and California, where Bob worked in a sawmill and Ruth worked as a “Rosie the Riveter” in an airplane factory. Deciding that summers there were much too hot, they returned to Pinedale and began construction of a permanent home.

Ruth’s first job in Pinedale was sewing at the P.W.A. She also worked for Mrs. Fardy at her hotel doing odd jobs such as cooking, dishwashing, waiting tables, etc. After that she spent time cooking at the old Fremont Café and later at Eunice Bird’s Pine Cone Café.

In 1950 she went to work at the Pinedale schools as a custodian until retiring at age 70 after 21 years. During this time she became fondly known to many as “Grandma Hardy.”

She is survived by five grandchildren: Fred Boyce (wife Barbara); Bob Boyce (wife Mayleen) and Joyce Mitchell Sebesta, all of Pinedale; Ruthie Clark (husband Jack) of Big Piney and Mike Wilder (wife Bobbie) of Bishop, Calif. She also has 15 great-grandchildren, 26 great-great-grandchildren and one great-great-great-grandchild.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, six sisters, three brothers, two daughters and one great granddaughter.