L. Bernice Cone, 82

L. Bernice Cone, 82, died at home in Moyie Springs on Dec. 26, 2010.

A celebration of life service and luncheon will be held at noon Saturday, April 2, at the Trinity Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall.

She was born on Oct. 14, 1928, in Boise, to Elbert and Lotus R. Cone.  Bernice was preceded in death by her father, mother and two brothers.

The family lived in southern Idaho until they moved to Bonners ferry from Gooding in 1944.  Bernice graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1946. She received her nurse’s training certificate at St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, graduating in 1949 with a registered nurse’s certificate.

She then returned home and worked as Dr. Fred Durose’s office nurse for two years. In 1951 she moved to Boise and joined the nursing staff at the V.A. Hospital.

 It was here that she met Carol Pomeroy, also a nurse at the V.A. Hospital. They enjoyed yearly trips to Bonners Ferry to visit Bernice’s father. While on these trips they helped in Cone’s Grocery-Cafe.  In 1961 Mr. Cone’s health was poor, so he asked the two to join them as partners in the family business.

Here they made so many friends and loved visiting with them over coffee and pie or the great hamburgers, fries and monster shakes. And what child growing up in Bonners Ferry during those years coiled forget Bernice’s two fisted no hollow center ice cream cones? 

The store also employed a great many local residents during those years who weren’t just employees, but part of an extended family. 

It was a gathering place for folks and family to eat, talk and enjoy the food and company from breakfast around 5 a.m. to dinner sometimes after 10 p.m. or later.  Bernice’s grill barely had time to cool down from closing until heating up at breakfast again.

In January 1976 they sold the grocery cafe to the Lyle Colbys.  Then in August of 1976 they bought Irwin Floor Covering and moved it into a new building near the grocery-cafe.

In March of 1985 they sold the business to Gene and Carol McCoy and dissolved the family corporation. 

The next 12 years they spent cleaning church and helping elderly friends with lawn care, doctor’s appointments, errands and so on.

In 1997 Bernice and Carol retired and built their new home in Moyie Springs on the rim with a beautiful view o the Moyie and Kootenai River Canyon.  Bernice never tired of watching all the birds, the eagles and the deer.