Wayv Gill, 83

Wayv Gill, 83, passed away in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2014.

Wayv was born to James and Agnes Poston in Potlatch, Idaho, on July 1, 1931. The youngest of three girls and three boys, Wayv was the only sibling not born in Sandpoint because her family moved to Potlatch after the Humbird Mill closed during the Great Depression.

In 1938, the family returned to Kootenai, Idaho, when Wayv was in first grade. Wayv grew up playing with her dogs, exploring the mountains, and fishing with her father on Lake Pend Oreille. After graduation from Sandpoint High School in 1949, Wayv worked for the Bonner County Abstract Company. Then, in 1951, she went to work as a secretary for Morrison Knudsen during the construction of the Cabinet Gorge Dam on the Clark Fork River.

In 1952, Wayv married Bill Gill of Sandpoint, Idaho, on Feb. 21. After a honeymoon on the Oregon coast, they settled in Sandpoint. True entrepreneurs, Bill and Wayv owned several successful businesses over the next 40 years.

In 1952 they opened Gill's Richfield, located at the present site of Panhandler Pies. Then in 1958, they moved uptown to the corner of First and Bridge (present site of Pita Pit), opening Bill's Mobil Service. For the next 35 years they operated from this busy corner in downtown Sandpoint, adding Honda motorcycles in 1962 and changing the name to Bill's Honda Sales. They also owned the Mobil Oil bulk plant which Wayv managed, located across the highway from Dub's in the 1970s.

They raised two children, Steve and Kristi, and were both busy in youth-related activities. Wayv was a den mother for Cub Scouts, a Brownie leader for Girl Scouts, active in Washington Elementary PTA, East Bonner County Library District Board and in Beta Sigma Phi.

Wayv also loved the outdoors and the family enjoyed picnicking, camping, fishing, motorcycling, and especially snowmobiling. She and Bill spent many winter weekends exploring the Selkirk and Cabinet Mountains, and in the mid-1960s became some of the earliest to snowmobile in Yellowstone Park. They co-founded the Winter Riders and were instrumental in securing grant funds from Idaho Park & Rec for Bonner County's first snowmobile groomer.

In 1993 Bill passed away and Wayv sold the businesses. She moved to Quartzsite, Ariz., where she and Bill spent many previous winters as snowbirds. Wayv loved the warm sunny desert and made many friends. It was while she was in Arizona that Wayv met her companion, Larry Pickett, with whom she explored the desert and enjoyed summers at Island View Resort in Hope, Idaho.

The last two years of Wayv's life were spent at North Star Retirement Community in Coeur d'Alene where she enjoyed the many friends she met, participated in the wonderful activities offered, and where her granddaughter, Katie Gill, was her full-time caregiver and partner for many afternoon dominoes games.

Wayv was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Bill, her companion Larry, and all five of her brothers and sisters.

Surviving are her children Steve (Kelly) Gill of Coeur d'Alene and Kristi (Mike) Thompson of Sandpoint; four grandchildren: Sarah (Jake) Bachman of Sandpoint, Bryan (Jill) Gill of Moscow; Travis Thompson of Boise, and Katie Gill (Joe Berry) of Coeur d'Alene; and two great-grandchildren, Nolan Angell and Brayden Bachman of Sandpoint.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Pinecrest Memorial Park. A Life Celebration following the burial will be held at noon, at 41 South in Sandpoint (located south of the Long Bridge).

Memorials may be made to the Bonner County Humane Society in Sandpoint or Kootenai Humane Society in Hayden, Idaho.

Family and friends are invited to sign the online guestbook for Wayv, at www.coffeltfuneral.com.

Final arrangements are under the care of Coffelt Funeral Service.