LEMCKE, Florence R.

Florence R. Erickson Lemcke, 91, died March 15 at her Canyon City home. A private graveside service will be at Canyon City Cemetery. A celebration of life for her longtime friends and neighbors will be held Memorial Day weekend at her cabin in Bear Valley. Details to follow. Mrs. Lemcke was born Feb. 24, 1922, the only child of Ray and Olive (Paine) Erickson. She was raised on the Antone Ranch in Wheeler County. She shared her childhood years with her aunt, Phyllis Paine. She rode horseback to grade school at Antone. She attended Grant Union High School, where she was a member of the first four-year class to graduate from GUHS, and proud of the Prospector mascot. On Sept. 5, 1948, she married her high school sweetheart, Bob Lemcke, with whom she made a home on the 96 Ranch in Bear Valley. She loved being a ranch wife. An outdoors woman, she loved to hunt. She killed an elk two years in a row, sitting under the same tree, and won the big buck contest one year. She also loved fishing, catching fish in holes on Scotty Creek that others had just fished in. She had big vegetable gardens in Bear Valley and Canyon City. She loved to cook, and always put on a spread, whether it was for a hay crew, family get-togethers, or just for the two of them. She loved cows, especially Herefords. She especially loved visits by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and enjoyed their antics and mischief. She loved the cabin, snowmobiling, riding horses, shooting squirrels, making ice cream in the winter with ice from the creek, traveling in her motor home, a good gin and tonic, and life. She was stricken with Alzheimer’s in 2002. The disease robbed her of memory, but not her spirit or spunkiness. She was feisty, frisky, playful and funny till the end. Survivors include her children, John Denton, Susan (Leon) Pielstick and Jim (Heidi) Lemcke, eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association through Driskill Memorial Chapel, 241 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845. bluemountaineagle.com 19 March 2013