Leona Vanwinkle

Leona Mae VanWinkle, 94, long time resident of Dyer, Nevada, and our wonderful mother, grandmother, and friend, passed away peacefully, with her oldest daughter present on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, at her home in Idaho Falls. Leona was born May 1, 1917, in Paso Robles, California, to Leonard Putnam and Anna Isabella Armstrong Putnam. She grew up and attended schools in Paso Robles. She was an active member of the Baptist Church. She married Bill Hoekstra and they one son, Frank. They were later divorced. During World War II she worked at Pacific Semi Conductors as an electrical assembler while the men were overseas fighting. In 1944 she met a young army man on leave named Frank Bumgarner. He quickly became the love of her life and they were married in May, 1945, in Santa Ana, California. They had four children, Bob, Roy, Lona, and Lorraine. Frank loved to play guitar and played in a local band out in California that once opened for Ernest Tubbs. She had many stories of their courtship, marriage and life together. Frank passed away too soon in 1960 and she continued to raise their four kids by working two or three jobs. She eventually moved the kids to Utah and got a job at Welche’s Wood Company, where she worked the glue deck, gluing all the pieces together and then in her spare time she worked at a laundry mat in Midvale, Utah. Leona was fiercely independent with a wonderful and funny sense of humor. She loved to travel to see her kids (sometimes unannounced) and was a frequent rider on the Greyhound buses between Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, right up until she was 92 years old. She even went to see a Lawrence Welk show in Tennessee once. She was on a dart team in Montana and loved to fish when she lived in Challis, Idaho. She worked at the potato processing plants when she lived in Burley, Idaho, and was known as “Big Red” because of her lifelong red hair, but her favorite place to live was Dyer, Nevada, where she made many friends and resided for most of her later years. She will be fondly remembered there for teaching Sunday School at the local Baptist Church for many years. She never missed a ride on the senior bus that went to the Tonopah Senior Citizen Center twice a week. She loved to cook and blessed them all with her lasagna and pies. She was always able to make something out of just a few ingredients. She also cooked at the Boonies when her son and daughter-in-law owned it. Even at 90 and still with a keen mind, one of her favorite things was to be a judge of the 4th of July Parade in Dyer. Everyone who knew her could tell you that she loved her dogs. Tuffy was her favorite and she even wrote very cute short stories about him that the local paper published. She left all who knew her great memories of their time with her. She could always make you smile with her. Leona was preceded in death by her husband, Frank, her parents, a grandson, David, and two brothers, Leonard and Floyd Putnam. She is survived by her five kids, Frank Hoekstra of Boulder City, NV, Bob (Charlotte) Bumgarner of Dyer, NV, Roy (Teri) Bumgarner and Lona (Howard) Rich, both of Idaho Falls, and Lorraine Jacobs of Great Falls, MT. She has 13 grandkids and many, many great grandkids. The family will hold a private service and then a memorial service and interment will be held at a later date in Dyer, Nevada. The family would like to express our gratitude for the two years of wonderful care Leona received at The Gables of Ammon and their exceptional staff, who lovingly cared for her. She was under the care of OneSource Hospice and we owe a great debt of gratitude to their nurses for their superior care, both to Leona and the family. Her keen mind and sense of humor remained intact as she reminded them all not to bet on a slow horse.