Luella (Redpath) Boehmer

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Biography

1911 Aug 31 - Luella was born to Frank & Martha Redpath in Joplin, MT. She was the eldest of what would become 5 children...3 boys and the last another girl.

1912 Dec 6 - Luella was baptised "Luella Cecilie Redpath" according to the records of Trinity Lutheran Church in Denmark Township, Ward, ND, where her Danish grandparents still lived.

She grew up in Somers, on Flathead Lake just S of Kalispell, MT.

1930? Luella was waitressing at the hotel in Somers, MT where she met Ed Post, a USGS hydrologist who was in town due to his assignment to map the waters of the Flathead River prior to the building of the dam.

1931 Apr 11 - Luella & Ed married, moved to Helena, MT where the USGS hub was, had a daughter and started to build a house. They spent a lot of time visiting in Somers on Flathead Lake, as their baby was the first grandchild and Ed's field work was nearby.

1936 Feb 26 - The baby was only 1.5yo when Ed died suddenly (30yo, either heart attack or stroke...COD was "lack of medical attention") while chopping a hole in the ice on the river near the tiny town of Coram, MT just upriver from the lake. His coworker and brother-in-law Gordon Redpath carried him to Coram for help but it was too late.

Luella's brothers spent a lot of time trying to help Luella finish the building of her house in Helena, as she learned to cope with being a young widowed mother.

1941 Oct 6 - Bernard aka "Barney" 26yo married 29yo Luella C Redpath, of Helena in Boulder, MT. Luella had been widowed young, owned her home in Helena, was the mother of a 9yo daughter, Patty, and was close to her family in Somers, a lakeside community just south of Kalispell, MT. Barney and Luella's daughter clashed constantly, as she always felt he was intruding on their lives. Their first child, Howard Bernard, was born on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, 7 Dec 1941.

1942 Aug 13 - World War II Army Enlistment Records......Barney enlisted as a Pvt in the US Army in Butte, MT. Records say he had 1yr of college and worked as a "social and welfare worker".

Barney eventually got a position as an IRS investigator which had him traveling continuously between WA and MT. He carried a gun during these years as this job put him at odds with many whose personal and business dealings were threatened by his presence.

They had 2 boys while in Helena and moved to Spokane, WA. where they had their 3rd son in Sep 1946. Barney continued to travel between Spokane and Billings on his job.

1950 Census - Spokane, WA.......3314 Rosamond Ave. Bernard A Boehmer 34yo "Special Intelligence Agent for US Treasury", Luella C Boehmer 38yo wife, Patricia A 15yo, H Bernard 8yo, Richard L 5yo, Edwin A 3yo.

Luella and Barney got divorced sometime later....she got custody of the boys and he returned to Helena, where he eventually remarried.

Luella worked as a secretary for the dentist who lived next door to her on Rosamond St, Dr James J Kepl. She became daily coffee cake friends with her backyard neighbor Gussie.

1957 (Springtime?) Luella, who loved to square dance but was struggling due to hip pain, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which had metastasized to her hip bone. As was the practice of the time, she was not told of this diagnosis (per her daughter) with the intent to prevent her from losing hope.

1958 Jan 25 Luella passed away at her home in Spokane, where she cared for her 3 sons (her daughter, the eldest, was married with 2 kids and living in Merced, CA).

Sources

• Trinity Lutheran Church records received from church records caretaker, B Quigley.

• 1942 US WWII Army Enlistment Records - Butte, MT.

• 1950 Census - Spokane, WA https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?county=Spokane%2C%20Spokane&name=Boehmer%2C%20Luella&page=2&state=WA (image 2 of 26)

• 1958 death of Luella C Boehmer https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FV3-LDLD (image 170 of 1904)

• 1958 death certificate - Luella Cocelia Redpath Boehmer https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N31Z-TMZ (image 733 of 2396)

• 1958 Jan 27 Spokane Chronicle p 5 - obit for Luella

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35280633/luella_cocelia_boehmer