LaVeeda (Waits) Linnemeyer

LaVeeda (Waits) Linnemeyer passed away on March 19, at the Boundary County Restorium in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m, April 8, 2017, at the United Methodist Church in Bonners Ferry.

LaVeeda was born on Nov. 12, 1920, in Farnum, Neb. She was the second of six girls and one brother born to Calista May and Fred Raymond Waits.

She began her life in the sod house her grandfather built on the 160 acre farm he homesteaded in 1890. She said her favorite memory of that sod house was the wild geraniums blooming from the outsides of the house in the springtime.

Eventually, they moved into a wooden house built by her grandfather and father.

Five girls shared one bedroom with two beds. Fights were not uncommon!

The family had a band and played at dances. One night a young man came to the dance, asked her to dance and then to marry him. That young man was Walter Linnemeyer. They were married on May 19, 1938.

In 1969, they moved to Loveland, Colo., where LaVeeda learned to make draperies. When they moved back to Bonners Ferry in 1972, she opened her own drapery business in the basement of their home. She made draperies for many of the homes around Bonners Ferry. She was very proud of her work.

She and Walter always hung the drapes because she wanted to make sure every pleat was hanging just right.

She said her biggest challenge was making the heavy, velvet stage curtains for the old high school auditorium stage.

They moved many times during their marriage because LaVeeda loved to decorate houses. They would buy a house, fix it up until nothing more could be done, sell it and start all over again. They were “flipping houses” before there was a television show about it.

Walter died in 2007 and a year later LaVeeda sold their home and eventually moved to the restorium.

LaVeeda was preceded in death by Walter, an infant son, and a granddaughter. Sisters: LaVonne (Waits), Linnemeyer, LaVay (Waits) Philips, and brother, Teddy Waits.

She is survived by daughters: Wauneta (Dick) Dawson, Nona Kaye (Bill) Clark, and Delores (Rick) Rickena. Also: Five grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and twelve great-great grandchildren. Sisters: Patsy (Waits) Clark, Freda Rae (Waits) Wiseman, and Marilyn (Waits) Farm. Many nieces, nephews, and friends.