Our mother, Elizabeth Louise Andren Babb passed into the care of our Heavenly Father on July 18, 2012 at age 91. Elizabeth was born on June 15, 1921 in Cheney, Washington. Her parents were George Leopold Andren and Vena Shonkwiler Andren. She grew up on a farm near Paha, Wash.
She attended school for a time with her beloved older sister in Seattle at Roosevelt High School before returning to Spokane, where she graduated at the age of sixteen from Lewis and Clark High School while working for the Stub Francis family as a nanny, cook and housekeeper.
Elizabeth then attended the Eastern Washington College of Education (now EWU), where she majored in biology. During that time Elizabeth met the love of her life, our father, John Mason Babb. John farmed with his father, John Babb, Sr., on the family homestead southeast of Cheney. John and Elizabeth were married July 16, 1942 in Couer d'Alene, Idaho. They resided in a house on the family farm, where they raised their son and daughter. Elizabeth quit school during her junior year of college and became a full time partner in life with our father on the farm and as a mother to her children.
Their son, David John Babb was born October 9, 1943, and their daughter Robin Elizabeth Babb was born Oct. 5, 1945. During World War II farmers like the Babbs produced food for the war effort. Mom loved gardening and flowers and we were truly a self-sufficient farm, milking cows, raising cattle and hogs, and raising chickens and selling eggs. Mom churned her own butter for years and also passed milk through the cream separator twice a day, where excess cream was sold to the Cheney Creamery. Her house was always full of friends and relatives where simple activities like Canasta, Pinochle, or best of all, storytelling from the elders brought joy to loved ones. Elizabeth's legacy will be carried on in her children, who will enjoy the simple pleasures of life, picnics in the pasture, and collecting the first buttercup in spring.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband, John, and her sister Catherine. Elizabeth is survived by her son, David and wife Kathleen, who still reside on the Babb homestead; and by her daughter Robin Babb Bruce, her husband Lyle, of Post Falls, Idaho; and her sister-in-law, Helen Babb Boots of Cheney. Elizabeth is also survived by three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, as well as loving cousins, nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be given in Elizabeth's memory to the Spokane Human Society, P.O. Box 6247, Spokane, WA 99217 or the Shriners Hospital for Children, 911 W. Fifth Ave., Spokane, WA 99204. A memorial service was held Tuesday, July 24 at Cheney Funeral Chapel, Cheney, WA. Online guestbook at cheneyfuneral.com.
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