Robert Carpenter

A rosary for Robert Carpenter, 92, will be recited at 7 p.m. tonight, Oct. 24, at St Mary's Catholic Church in Potlatch. The funeral mass will be 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25. at St. Augustine's Catholic Church, 628 S. Deakin, Moscow. Burial will follow at Freeze Cemetery, Potlatch. Dinner will follow at the Nazarene Church, Princeton.

Mr. Carpenter died Oct. 15, 2019, at the Hospice House in Coeur d'Alene after a short illness.

Born Sept. 19, 1927, in Independence, Ore., to Raymond and Idabel George Carpenter, his father died when he was young, and he lived in several north central Idaho towns with his mother who was a school teacher.

At 14, he worked as a bellhop at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane. He left high school at 17 to join the Navy during World War II and served in a Marine detachment on Okinawa. He received the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal, American Area Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal.

He met Mary Zellerhoff at a dance, and they were married May 5, 1947, in Coeur d'Alene. Their first home was in Lewiston. In 1953, they moved to the Thorn Creek area near Uniontown. In 1956, they moved to the Henry Zellerhoff farm in Colton where they farmed and raised a family. In 1968, they moved to Hatter Creek in Princeton, Idaho, and ranched there for more than 40 years.

He and Mary raised 11 kids. When other farmers were buying air-conditioned, self-propelled combines, he managed to get by with pull combines. His haying season was three times as long as neighboring farmers due to his ancient equipment, but it got done every year, and the kids were more often than not rewarded with a fishing trip. Mary died in 2010.

In 2012, Bob met Leona DeMonnin through an online dating service. They were married in December of that year. Leona had 12 children, 10 still living.

After a honeymoon cruise to Alaska, Bob and Leona divided the past six years equally between her home in Liberty Lake and his on Hatter Creek.

Surviving in addition to his second wife are his children Trish (Bob) Munnoch of Sumner, Wash., Mike (Gale) Carpenter, Ray (Ellen) Carpenter, Tim (Fran) Carpenter, Tom (Val) Carpenter, Marilyn (Lonie) Austin, and Laura (Darren) Johnson, all of Princeton; John (Ruthie) Carpenter of Harvard; Dianne (Dale) Amberson of Snohomish;, Linda (Jim) Louie of Colburn; Bill (Julie) Carpenter of Taylorsville, Utah, and step-daughter Julie (Mel) of Gold Bar. He is survived by Leona's children Michael (Natasha), William (Ivone), Daniel (Paige), Jeffrey (Lehua), Gary (son-in-law), Diane (Mike), Souxsie (Rick), Jennifer (Ben), Frankie (Julie), Gina, and Kenny (Kim). He is also survived by 131 grand, great-grand, and great-great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials be made to St. Mary's Catholic Church, Box 143, Potlatch, 83855.