Faye Riese, 89

Alta Faye Riese passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015, at her home at Alpine Vista.

Faye was born on Aug. 24, 1926, at the home of her parents, Harold and Hazel Albright, outside Walsenburg, Colo. The Great Dust Storms of the 1930s drove her parents’ decision to move west, and they settled in Sagle, Idaho. With her new start in a new place, she decided to drop her birth name of “Alta” and from that time on was known by her middle name Faye.

Faye had an early interest in photography and worked for Ross Hall at Farragut during the war years. She was photographed standing next to a flowering syringa bush in the mountains near Hope. The photo was used in Sandpoint’s Chamber of Commerce brochures and the Greyhound Bus Company’s newsletter and she became known as the “Syringa Girl.”

She married Hal Riese, and life became one long adventure. She had three children, Steve, Linda and Robert, and also enjoyed a career as a secretary and bookkeeper.

She is survived by her son, Robert Riese, of Sandpoint; her daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Harry DeMarre; grandchildren Joshua Riese, Justin and Brittany DeMarre, Jason DeMarre and Nathan DeMarre; great-granddaughters Makenna Riese, Ashlynn Riese, Bailey DeMarre and Zoe Faye DeMarre; and one great-great-grandbaby to come.

She was best known for her ready smile which is just a reflection of the beautiful, happy woman she was. She was described the night before her passing as “having an angelic look, with a beautiful glow on her face.” That is how she will be remembered. She is our mother, and we love her dearly.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, 2015, at the First Christian Church in Sandpoint, Idaho. Burial will follow at Westmond Cemetery. Yates Funeral Home, Coeur d’Alene Chapel, is entrusted with the care of final arrangements. Please visit Faye’s memorial and sign her online guest book at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.