Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Vold Sands

Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Vold Sands, a resident of Blanchard, ID went to be with her Lord, August 16, 2009 at Rose Terrace Elder Care in Spirit Lake, ID. Funeral services will be held at Bonners Ferry Funeral Home, Friday August 21 at 130 pm with internment to follow at the Parker Family Cemetery. The daughter of Edward and Mary Parker Vold, she was born March 5, 1923 in the Cow Creek district of Boundary County Idaho. She graduated as salutatorian from Bonners Ferry High School in 1940 then attended Lewiston State Normal School receiving her teaching certificate. She taught one year at Potlatch, 10. Mary then worked at the Chicago Hotel in Spokane. During WWII, she worked at the Portland shipyards as a ship-fitter. She also worked with the Union Pacific Railroad as a telegraph operator at Spokane in the dispatchers office doing daily car reports. She married Norvel R. Sands April 11, 1946 in Libby, MT. In 1949 they moved to Washington State University's Dry Land Experiment Station at Lind, WA where she worked as a secretary for several years. They continued to live at the Station until 1974 when they moved to Blanchard ID. Mary is the author of "The Taming of a Wilderness - Cow Creek the First Fifty Years," a history of that district in Boundary County ID. She also wrote and edited parts of the Boundary County History Book published in 1987. Mary loved quilting and genealogy. She devoted 52 years caring for her handicapped son Roger. Mary is survived by Carol and Don Taylor, Roger and Helen Sands of Blanchard ID; a granddaughter Crystal Dawn and Glen Means of Peru, Indiana. She was preceded in death by her parents - Edward and Mary Vold, husband Norvel, two grandchildren and two sisters. Family and friends are invited to sign Betty's book at www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com Arrangement are entrusted to the care of Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.