Obituary of Elsie Regina Kinonen

Elsie was God's humble servant for 102 earthly years. She left this life on November 7, 2018. Born in Hebron, North Dakota on October 9, 1916 to Carl and Lydia Fehr, she was the second daughter of four. She also had two brothers, one of whom, Raymond, was killed at the beginning of WWII in Pearl Harbor. She is survived by her youngest sister, Shirley Jones of Missoula, Montana and Elsie's two children, Kathleen Creeden of Tucson and Richard Kinonen of Sahuarita. She was preceded in death in 1963 by her husband of 25 years, Kauko V. (Vick) Kinonen. Elsie was an expert seamstress. She loved sewing and altering garments for people. Her home had a large sewing room overflowing with notions and material. Her ironing board was constantly holding some sewing project. She looked forward to tackling the next complicated alteration with a trained eye toward just the right fold, seam, thread color,stitch or binding that the garment would need to look perfect. She grew up in Missoula, Montana loving to play softball. That passion carried her throughout her entire life and made her a bit time Arizona Wildcat Softball fan. As a young woman, she worked as a nurse's assistant and private housekeeper for wealthy people. After she married Vick in 1939 they moved into Harper Logging Company's logging camp. Elsie went to work in the camp cookhouse. In 1952 the company relocated from Darby, Montana to Deep Creek outside Missoula, then to Kalispell, Montana in 1958. There she and her husband purchased their first home. Elsie remained in Kalispell until 1980 when she relocated to Tucson. She moved into Far Horizons Mobile Home Park in 1983 and lived there until her passing. A Memorial Service will be held in her honor at the Far Horizons Mobile Home Park on January 6. 2019 at 2:00 pm. No flowers or gifts please.