Evelyn E. Etter

Evelyn E. Etter passed away on Dec. 18, 2018 at the age of 99. She was born in Brownton, Minn. to Edward and Mattie Bipes. She received her two-year teaching degree from St. Cloud State in St. Cloud, Minn. and commenced her teaching career at a one-room schoolhouse where she was not only responsible for teaching grades one through six, but also maintaining and cleaning the schoolroom and the outhouse, keeping the fire going and shoveling snow. Years later, she received her BS in education from the University of Minnesota and taught special education reading In Richfield, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis.

On Oct. 1, 1943 she married Wayne Etter, a bomber pilot during WWII and, after the war, a commercial pilot for Northwest Airlines. They lived in the Minneapolis area until 1979, when they retired. Their winters were spent in Rio Verde, a golfing community in Arizona. They spent their summers on the Swan River near Bigfork, Mont.

She loved to golf, play bridge, read and make baskets. She made dozens of beautiful baskets that she sold, but mostly gave away to friends and family. She learned carpentry from her father, a builder, and gave that “can do” attitude to her family, especially her daughter. She moved from Arizona to Grass Valley in 2012 to be near her daughter.

She is survived by her daughter, Jeanne Palmer; her two grandchildren, Evan Palmer and Alan Palmer, and her four great-grandchildren. She was a wonderful mother and grandmother and was fiercely devoted to her family. She was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne Etter and her son Bruce D. Etter.

There will be a private family celebration of life this summer in Bigfork, Mont. where she will be laid to rest.