Elizabeth Jo Jeppesen
Elizabeth “Jo” Jeppesen
Elizabeth “Jo” Jeppesen,76, passed away surrounded by her family on March 29, 2015.
Services will be held on April 3, 2015, at 1 p.m. at the LDS Church in Bonners Ferry.
Jo was born in Seymour, Ind., on Dec. 22, 1938, to Oliver James Owens and Leona Ida (Stradley) Owens Green. Her family moved to Idaho and settled in the Colburn area where she attended school in Sandpoint.
Jo dearly loved her five brothers, Jack, Gene, Stoney, Steve, and Allen, and had a very special bond with her mother.
On July 4, 1958, she married Jay H. Jeppesen in Sandpoint, Idaho, and they made their home in the Naples area where they raised their six children and many foster children whom she helped raise over the years.
Jo loved to paint, fish, pick huckleberries, sew, crochet and travel. She was very adventurous, but most of all, she loved spending time with her family and close friends.
One of her greatest joys was serving others. Very often she would take her children (sometimes kicking and screaming) with her to help others who were in need. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, served as a 4-H leader, was a member of the Highland Flats Women’s Club, Naples Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary and the Naples School PTA.
Her most famous saying when someone was going to town was “Bring me back a million dollars and a car load of spending money” — always said with a big smile on her face.
She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Sharon Owens; brothers Gene and Allen Owens; grandson Jon Eivan Overland; son-in-law Kerry Barnes; and brothers-in-law James Styers and Terry Jeppesen.
She is survived by husband, Jay H. Jeppesen; sons Dana L. Jeppesen and Niles H. Jeppesen; daughters Katherine A. Overland (Jon), Gayle Y. Barnes Solomon (Charles), Shannon P. Woods (Roger), Teresa R. “Tweety Bird” Chapman (Daryl); brothers Jack Owens, Stoney Owens and Steven Owens; brother-in-law Allan Jeppesen and sister-in-law, Mary Jo Styers; numerous nieces and nephews, 16 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren and her very special friends, Lee and Vince Radtke, and Donna and Bill Tompkins.
She was a great mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife and friend, she will always be missed.