Emma (Harryman) Stilwell

Obituary

Class of 1938

Nov. 11, 1917 – Jan. 13, 2014

Emma Stilwell, 97, of Nampa, died Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2014.

Emma was born in Weiser, ID in 1917, the year the United States entered the First World War. She celebrated her first birthday to the sound of church bells and gunfire, which announced the end of that war.

Emma was born to William Hezekiah Harryman and Sarah Amanda Elizabeth Bradshaw Harryman on November 11, 1917, the seventh of eleven children. She graduated from Weiser High School in 1936. In 1939, Emma married Vern Stilwell. During the Second World War they lived at Yellow Pine, ID, where Vern worked in the Stibnite Mine at 4th of July Creek logging camp, and in Payette, where Vern started his career with Idaho Power. Their three children were born in Payette.

Emma went to work in the sausage kitchen at Wells and Davies meat packing plant. She later worked at Davies Meats and became the first woman sausage maker in Idaho. In 1969 Emma and Vern moved to Meridian where they lived until 1990 when they moved to Nampa, where Vern died in 1993.

Emma was also preceded in death by her parents and nine of her siblings. She is survived by her children; Harold (Sondra) Stilwell of Tacoma, WA, Sarah Purvins of Nampa and Marilyn (Scott) Tews of Redmond, WA, her sister Nellie (Eldon) Snyder of Nampa, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was every child’s best friend and kids loved her as much as she loved them.

Funeral services will be held at 1 PM on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at Zeyer Funeral Chapel, 83 N Midland Blvd, Nampa with burial following at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, Caldwell.

From Idaho Press-Tribune, January 18, 2015