LaPriel Myrtle Marks Johnson, 97

LaPriel Myrtle Marks Johnson, 97, passed away Aug. 28, 2020, in Meridian, Idaho. She was born on July 17, 1923, to George Calvin Marks and Bertie Coila Skinner, in Condo, Idaho. She was delivered by her maternal grandmother, who was a midwife.

She was the oldest and only girl in a family with four brothers: Calvin Walter, Frank William, Clyde Irving and Lynn George. While in Condo, her father worked in the mine. They later lived on her father’s homestead in Montana, near her paternal grandfather’s ranch. Most of her youth was spent in Clancy, Mont., where her father was a mechanic at a garage.

She did babysitting as a teenager. One little girl couldn’t say LaPriel, so she called her ‘“PEE PEE!” Someone graciously shortened it to “Peep.” All her brothers called her Peep. She was known as Auntie Peep by nieces and nephews and to many kids on the Rimrock in Hayden Lake.

As a young girl of 13, she got a job working at a dairy, washing milk bottles in Clancy. It was here that she met her eternal companion, George Dewey Johnson. Their courtship lasted three years.

Her parents sold their homestead and they bought a 120-acre ranch from the Worst family, on the Rimrock in Hayden Lake, Idaho. They moved their family to the ranch in 1939.

By this time George Dewey was working in Butte, so he took the bus to Coeur d’Alene and asked her dad for her hand. They were married in May of 1940. After living with LaPriel’s parents for a couple of years, they bought a 40-acre farm a short distance from her parents’ ranch. It was 40 acres, a cow, and a small three-room house; modest, but it was theirs.

They had two children: Jerry (1941) and Sheri (1943). In 1957, neighbor and friend, William L. Dial, needed someone to care for his daughter. He asked Dewey and LaPriel if she could live with them. Billie was 9-months old when she came to join the family. After her father passed away, Dewey and LaPriel adopted Billie.

LaPriel worked as head cook for the hot lunch program at Hayden Lake Grade School for many years. The kids could buy a bottle of milk at recess for two and a half cents, and lunches were 25 cents! She had worked at the Woolworth’s Lunch counter, at Independent Market in Coeur d’Alene, as a grocery clerk and at JC Penny’s.

LaPriel and Dewey were foster parents for many years. They had two sets of sisters at various times. In 1971, two sisters, Ardith and Mona Williams, came to live with them and were part of the family until they got married or moved away.

In 2005, LaPriel moved to Meridian, Idaho, to be near her daughter, Sheri. She passed away Aug. 28, 2020. She is survived by her son, Jerald “Jerry” and wife, Nancy of Sandpoint, Idaho; her daughter, Sharon “Sheri” Osburn of Meridian and daughter, Billie Jean Ormesher and husband, Gordon Jr, of Hayden; 10 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren; two special nieces and three nephews; plus numerous other family members.

She was preceded in death by her husband, G. Dewey Johnson; her parents, George and Bertie Marks; all four of her brothers: Walter, Frank, Clyde and Lynn; and her son-in-law, Gary “Ozzie” Osburn.

A viewing will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, at Yates Funeral Homes and Gathering Center, 373 E. Hayden Ave., Hayden, Idaho. The graveside will be at 12:30 p.m. at Coeur d’Alene Memorial Gardens, 7315 N. Government Way, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Yates Funeral Homes has been entrusted with the care of arrangements. Please visit LaPriel’s memorial and sign her online guest book www.yatesfuneralhomes.com