Marion Eunice Firkins, 67, of Burley, Idaho, and a former Baker City resident, died Oct. 26, 2001, at St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise.
Her memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 8 at the Burley Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she was a member.
Mrs. Firkins was born in July 1934 to Allen Preston and Mary Lois Teague Birdwell at Childress, Texas. Her father worked as a stillman for Emeral Oil and Gas Co. making gasoline at the refinery at Wickett, Texas, for many years. He transferred to Artesia, N.M., to the New Mex refinery as stillman in 1948. He died in October 1950.
Mrs. Firkins was the middle child of a family of five children. She attended school at Wickett-Monahans, Texas, and Artesia, N.M.
She was divorced from her first husband in 1963. She worked at cafes and truck stops as a cook and waitress. She met and married Richard Firkins and they teamed up as long-haul truck drivers for many years until her health began to fail. Mr. Firkins gave up truck driving to take care of his wife.
She made beautiful crafts and oil paintings and she loved to fish.
Survivors include her husband, Richard Firkins of Burley; her mother, Mary Lois Erwin of Baker City; a sister, Mary Elizabeth Hicks of Graham, Texas; a brother, Jerry D. Birdwell of Fort Summers, N.M.; three sons, Jim, Bill and Bob, and two daughters, Nita Ann and Kaye Marie, all of Prineville; 10 grandchildren; three stepchildren, Byron, Dixie and Sandy; and six stepgrandchildren. Two of her grandchildren are in the armed forces: Katy Ann Dunbar is serving in Korea and Joe Mack Dunbar is serving in the United States.
She was preceded in death by her father, two sisters, two infant sons and a grandson.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Burley Cancer Foundation through the Jeff Rasmussen Funeral Home of Burley, Idaho.
Used with permission from: The Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, November 2, 2001
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor