Johnson: Inez Frances (nee Richter) passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 8, 2010. She was born in Greenwood, BC on October 9, 1917.
Inez lived independently in her own apartment in Trail, at the spry age of 92. She will be remembered for her Christmas dinners, family reunions, her considerable baking (“you have to try one of everything”), her church volunteerism, and her presence at the Trail Seniors’ Centre, Rossland Anglican Church, and Trail Catholic Church. Inez lived a quiet life, but her passing represents the end of an era to the family. She loved to recount stories to visitors; her favourite era on the Similkameen ranch, when her grandfather, Francis Xavier Richter, rolled in from Bohemia via the gold rush, garnered vast land holdings, and married Lucy S’imla from the Okanagan Nation. They bore five sons, all of them successful ranchers. Inez grew up near Midway with her parents, Joseph Richter and Gertrude Henderson, her four sisters, and brother Joe.
In the 1930’s, Inez couldn’t wait to move off the ranch into town, and brought up her son Mickey in Rossland, with all the modern conveniences of central heating and flush toilets. Mickey Johnson grew up a willful boy, then a National ski champion, in the Nancy Greene era, and predeceased his mother by two years. Inez was predeceased by her husband of sixty years, Raymond Johnson, and is survived by grandchildren, Ben and Michele Johnson, daughter-in-law Gail Johnson, brother Joe Richter and family in Merritt, a vast number of nieces and nephews, including the Morrish family in Trail, and her friend Cindy DeMeulenaere. Thank you so much to the Trail Home Support Services for enabling Inez to live independently.
At the age of 83, Inez rediscovered dancing and found love. “Time is not on our side,” she would say about her companion, Chuck Lakes, “but I can tell he really cares for me.” Inez and Chuck were a going concern around Trail for six happy years, which just goes to show that life does begin at eighty. Grandma, Aunty Inez, and her innumerable cards at Easter, Christmas, and birthdays, will be missed.
All are welcome to attend Inez’s memorial service at Carberry’s Chapel on Monday August 16, at 1:00 p.m., with Sister Norma Gallant officiating. Al Grywacheski of Personal Alternative Funeral Services “Carberry’s Chapel” is entrusted with arrangements.
You are invited to leave a personal message of condolence at the family’s online Memorial Register at: personalalternative.com.