CHESTER LEO UNRUH

Chester Leo Unruh, loving son, husband, father and grandfather was born to Odes B. Unruh and Sadie Jantz Unruh on October 9, 1930, in Copeland, Kansas. He peacefully passed away at Sunset Home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, on March 2, 2026, at 95 years of age.

The dry and dusty years of the 1930’s which threatened his mother’s health prompted the family to move to the clean air and blue skies of north Idaho. On the bench land above Bonners Ferry, the family settled on a forty-acre stump ranch in May of 1936. Chet attended school at Pine Grove School (now the Northside Bed and Breakfast), repeating one year after losing ground with scarlet fever in the lower grades.

In the summer of 1946, the Odes Unruh family moved to Winton, California for a time, to work. Ben Giesbrecht invited the sixteen-year-old Chester over for Sunday dinner. Chet soon determined to one day marry the young girl sitting across the table from him. Six years later, given a favorable response to his proposal, Chester and Nettie Mae were married on February 14, 1952, in Winton.

They left their first home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, for Santa Monica, California, where Chester served in a voluntary 1-W service unit in lieu of military service. The friendships formed there lasted for many years. While in service, their first son Steven Chester was born. Soon afterwards they moved back to Bonners Ferry where their daughter Celia Mae was born and another son Theodore Ben (Teddy).

There were lean times financially in their first years of marriage when Chet and his brother Lawrence were logging and managing a dairy. The wives did their best to live within their means. One month they did so well they didn’t even realize they had missed a milk check of $200. Perhaps this was the year when their adjusted gross income for income tax was $1500. The stories repeated of these years are always interspersed with chuckles from the main characters.

Many years were spent farming in various districts in the valley. In 1976 Chet and Nettie Mae moved to Nampa, Idaho, to farm and to be closer to Teddy who by then

was living in the Idaho State School and Hospital. For several years Chet and Nettie shared their home with nine foreign exchange workers from seven different countries. Farming was still in his blood, and he enjoyed raising crops in the Nampa area with his son Steven until the city swallowed up much of the farmland. He spent much time on various building projects around Nampa with his friend Marv Hamilton. Dad was a handyman and there wasn’t much he wouldn’t tackle.

Traveling was very much a part of Chet and Nettie Mae’s senior years. They crossed the continental USA, visiting family and friends. Also, Europe held its lure, as well as Alaska. They often visited their son Ted who was cared for many years in Boise Group Homes.

Mom passed away in June of 2011, leaving Dad to carry on alone. Thirteen years later he moved back to Bonners Ferry and joined Sunset Home. During his stay at Sunset Home, he felt a need for release from the burdens that troubled his peace and happiness. God granted him that gift. His caregivers and family enjoyed his happy smiles, and he appreciated their thoughtfulness and loving care. His health gradually declined leaving him wheelchair bound. On March 2, 2026, Dad passed away after a long hard fight with respiratory failure. The family is very grateful to all his caregivers and the rest of the crew that kept him comfortable and cheery, and for the loving friends and family that often stopped by to visit.

Those left to cherish his memory include his son, Steven and Debbie, of Nampa, Idaho; daughter, Celia, Bonners Ferry; one brother, Odes and Jeraldine, Bonners Ferry; two grandchildren, David and Ben, Middleton, Idaho; two sisters-in-law; numerous nieces and nephews; and many friends, especially those at Sunset Home.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Nettie, his son Ted, one brother, one sister, and a number of brothers- and sisters-in-law.

Viewing will be from 5:00 to 9:00 pm on Wednesday, March 5th in the Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.  Services will be held at Mt. View Mennonite Church at 10:00 on Friday, March 6, 2026.  Interment will be in the Mt. View Mennonite Cemetery in Bonners Ferry.