Mary Telfer Eldredge, 94, a resident of Carey, died Friday, March 21, 2008, at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center in Ketchum.
Mary was born Nov. 29, 1913, in Pocatello, the daughter of James and Lennie Sears Telfer. She was raised and educated in Fish Creek in a one-room school house. After finishing high school, she went to work for the Carey Post Office, where she stayed employed for the next 40 years. She married James L. Eldredge on June 20, 1948, in Reno, Nev. They honeymooned in San Francisco.
Mary and her husband loved ranching and raising cattle on their ranch in Fish Creek. She enjoyed and spent many hours riding the ranch rangelands, tending to the cattle in the summer and helping rake hay. She instilled a great love of the land in her daughters and grandchildren. Mary enjoyed and spoke often of the good times she had riding with the Carey Riding Club and participating in the jamborees. She also enjoyed gardening and tending to her flowerbeds, and kept her hands occupied with her beautiful embroidery work and knitting. Mary also was an avid reader.
She is survived by her husband, Lee, and two daughters, Becky (Dick) Payne of Carey and Lennie (John) Uhrig of Shoshone; grandchildren, Howard Robinson of Twin Falls, Nicki (Sam) D'Orazio of Carey, Angie (Kolby) Peterson of Middleton, Richard Payne of Fish Creek, Marcella Payne of Boise and Monica Uhrig of Portland, Ore.; great-grandchildren, Tyson, Gracie, Nikolas and Maggie; one sister, Judy Cenarrusa; and nephews, Jim (Vicki) Cenarrusa, John (Tess) Cenarrusa and Jerry (Janice) Cenarrusa, all of Carey. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, Mike, her daughter Peggy and son-in-law Gary Robinson.
Memorial and celebration of life to be held for family and friends at a later date in late spring. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Idaho Home Health and Hospice of the Wood River Valley. Cremation was under the care of Wood River Chapel of Hailey.
