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Diane Luella Dowers, 88

Diane Luella (McMillen) Dowers was born to Frank and Genevieve McMillen on Jan. 15, 1929, in Scottsbluff, Neb. She was 88 when she died at home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on March 16, 2017. She grew up on the family farm in Hawk Springs, Wyo. There are stories of her being her dad’s “hired hand:” working as a shepherdess and teaching turkeys how to roost. Diane graduated from high school and then went to the University of Wyoming in Laramie where she met her future husband, Charles “Chuck” Dowers.

Diane and Chuck were married on Monday, Oct. 13, 1947, in Torrington at the First Methodist Church. They moved to Topeka, Kan., where their first son, Terry was born. After a short time in Fort Collins, Colo., they moved back Hawk Springs, where they operated a cattle ranch. While there Catherine and twins, Janice and Jeannette, were born.

In 1955, they loaded their belongings into boxcars and moved to Coeur d’Alene, where they bought their place on Mica Flats where Julia and Robert were born. They remained there the rest of her life.

Diane met her Lord and Savior at the Berean Church in Torrington in 1952. In Coeur d’Alene, she was a member of Bethel Baptist Church. She loved to study the Bible and was a part of Alice Carney’s Bible study and Peter and Ann Raugh’s home Bible study. She was a leader for the Girls Missionary Guild and taught Vacation Bible School for years, always arriving with a carload of kids, both hers as well as many from the neighborhood.

Diane loved to be involved with her community and volunteered at Kootenai Medical Center as a “Pink Lady” and was a member of the Mica Flats Happy Family Extension Club.

Diane and Chuck loved to travel and visited all 50 states, most while driving in their motor home. She also toured Europe with her daughters.

Diane is survived by her husband, Chuck, of 69 years; her sister, Ava Jean Gagnon of Waitsburg, Wash.; her six children, Terry Dowers, Catherine Steinback, Janice Sawyer, Jeannette Enns, Julia Meredith and Robert Dowers, their spouses; and 20 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Her memorial celebration will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 25, 2017, at the Mica Flats Grange Hall in Coeur d’Alene, with a reception to follow. Yates Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Please visit her online guest book at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.