Anna I. Sipes

Ann Sipes, widow of Orlee Sipes and a longtime resident of the Ridgeview District in Oregon west of Homedale, Idaho, passed away quietly in her sleep, March 19, 2013, at her home, aged 93 yrs. Ann was born the middle of seven children, March 15, 1920, in a stone house on the Yellowstone highway between Ucon and Idaho Falls. Elementary school was in Ucon, and when her family moved to Nyssa, OR, she attended Nyssa High, graduating valedictorian. During WWII she worked with a friend at Lockheed in Burbank, the two of them sometimes comprising a riveting team in aircraft assembly. She was indeed, a “Rosie the Riveter”. During high school, she had met Orlee Sipes, a local farm lad from the Ridgeview district, whose family was proving up homestead ground. During the war, Orlee was in the Army Air Corps, crew chief mechanic on aircraft flying the hump from India to China. It was later thought that some of the aircraft Ann helped to build in Burbank were later maintained by Orlee in India. They married after his return in 1945, settled on the farm and raised feed crops, dairy heifers, and, most important to Ann, three sons. After the sons were grown, the farm expanded to an award winning grade A dairy operation. When Orlee retired in 1980, she traveled with him by motor home for 17 years, spending most winters near Hermosillo, Mexico, where they became part of a fishing village with many friends, and where Ann took up painting. In the 1960’s, Ann trained as a nurse, obtained an LPN license, and worked at the Caldwell hospital, and the Homedale nursing home. She nursed both her parents in their final days at her own home during the 1970’s. When Orlee was forced by ill health to curtail his travels, she returned with him to the home farm and nursed him until his death 7 years later. Ann was wife, mother, musician, artist, nurse. Her example of service to the aging members of her family is unparalleled. She was a member of the Homedale LDS Church, and often expressed her faith that she and Orlee would be reunited. She was preceded in death by her parents, Reuben and Mary Haroldsen of Nyssa; older siblings Don, Mary, and Jesse; and her beloved husband of 63 years, Orlee. She is survived by brothers Wayne, Arlan, and Elwyn Haroldsen; sons Brett, Dirk and Lee Sipes; six grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Viewing will be held from 4-8 p.m. Friday March 29, 2013 at Flahiff Funeral Chapel, Homedale. Services will be held at 1 pm Saturday, March 30, at the Flahiff Funeral Chapel in Homedale. Interment will follow at Homedale-Marsing Cemetery. Service Information