"I'm the luckiest person in the world'" Boots would say so often. Sadly her very well lived life came to an end on October 18. Born in Okanogan, Washington, she was the youngest of the four children of James and Georgine Boothe. She grew up on the family apple orchard and became a wiz at assembling apple boxes. She could construct 300 a day for which she earned a penny a box. The orchard was lost in the depression so she worked as a waitress and for the forest service. She graduated from Okanogan High School in 1940.
During the run-up to WWII most of the family found work in Seattle. Boots worked for the telephone company there. When the war was underway, she responded to the call "relieve a man for service." She joined the first group of women Marines, took the long train trip to Hunter College in New York and then to basic training in Virginia. She was based in San Diego supplying the men the equipment needed for the fight in the South Pacific. As the war ended she was moved to San Francisco.
She took advantage of the G.I. bill, graduating from Washington State and began teaching P.E at Pasco High School in 1950. Her continuing education included a Master's in Physical Education and a Masters from Gonzaga in counseling. She became a fulltime counselor and found time to coach the boy's golf team, retiring in 1981 after 31 wonderful years.
Boots discovered her love for golf at Tri-Cities Country Club and then at Meadow Springs. She competed throughout the North West and was on the board of many golf committees and organizations.
In 2000, she reunited with her golf partner and life long friend, Judy Hoetmer, and moved to a hilltop house near Carson City, Nevada. Those years included lots of golf and travel all over the U.S. and Canada. The winters were spent at Chaparral Country Club in Palm Desert, California.
Her nieces and nephews span four generations: Swensen, Stout, Bears, Buchheits and Robinsons. Her friends and former students will join the family in mourning the loss of a loving and remarkable woman. We are the lucky ones to have had her in our lives.
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