Melvina Mae Amoth

Melvina Mae Amoth was born to Walter and Susie (Wiebe) Amoth on March 1, 1933, and passed from this earth life in the early morning hours of July 19, 2020, at Sunset Home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

She was born in Langdon, N.D., and began her schooling there in a small country school.

When she was a small girl, she was stricken with rheumatic fever, which left her with a damaged heart. The effects of it followed her throughout her life.

In 1941, she, with her parents and siblings, moved to Bonners Ferry, making North Idaho her lifelong home.

She continued her education, ultimately becoming a licensed practical nurse.

She gave her heart to the Lord and was baptized into the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, on Jan. 5, 1947. She lived that faith to the end.

In 1957, Melvina began two years of voluntary service in the Greasewood Mission boarding school in Ganado, Ariz., on the Navajo reservation.

When she came back home, she brought a 9-year-old Navajo girl, Emma Jane Larson, to live in the home that she shared with her parents. She raised Janey as her daughter.

Although Melvina didn’t marry, her life was a life of service. Besides raising Janey, she spent 30 years as a nurse at the Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry. As her parents aged, she cared for them in the home until they passed away.

Surviving her are a sister, Frances Koehn of Glenn, Calif.; brothers, Donald of Bonners Ferry, Wayne of Buhl, Idaho, and Leslie and Doris of Glenn; and also by a sister-in-law, Ann Amoth of Bonners Ferry.

Preceding her in death are her parents, two brothers, one sister, three sisters-in-law, two brothers-in-law and some nieces and nephews.

The family feels deeply indebted to her for her service to our parents. We are also grateful to the Sunset Home for the loving care given her.