Laura Lee Jones was born August 2, 1961 in San Jose, CA to Lewis and Alberta Sauer Weaver. Laura as a child lived in Oregon House, CA and then moved with her parents to the Gresham Oregon area where she attended grade school and Gresham High School. While in high school she volunteered as a Candy Striper nurses assistant at the hospital. She met the love of her life one night quite by accident at a dance. Mike told me that he had never been to that dance hall but just stopped in to see what was “happening”. He thought that she was “pretty cute” but she was not giving out her phone number to a total stranger. Mike, being the gentleman that he is, thought she should be escorted home for her own safety. Afraid to wake up her mother and have her see she had a boy following her around, Laura finally gave Mike her phone number so he would go home! He must not have stayed away very long and they were married in Vancouver, WA September 29, 1980. Their son, Michael was born and soon after, Mike moved the family to Salmon and then to Idaho Falls, ID where he attended college. Mike said they experienced only two kinds of weather there, Freezing Cold when the wind blew from the North and Scalding Hot when the wind blew from the South. Living in a basement apartment Mike shared that the snow filled the stairway and they were trapped for a time and had to melt the snow to get out! Laura was a trooper and insisted on helping with the finances while Mike went to school and worked part time. One summer Mike remembered that she even worked for a roofing company in Idaho Falls. He tried to dissuade her from doing such hard physical labor but once Laura put her mind to something no one was going to change it!
Laura had several jobs over the years; sometimes in retail sales, sometimes as a waitress at Polar King, Mt. Hood Cafe and several other restaurants in the area. She was a maid for a short time and even a photographer for 3 years, managing the business that took pictures with Santa at the mall. Where ever she went she loved meeting the public and was open and friendly to all. She loved meeting new people and they in turn were friendly to her. She would give a listening ear to anyone.
Laura had some interesting hobbies. One was that she was a member of the American Society of Anachronism, which is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. She also liked crafts of all types; needle work, clay art, and more. She and Mike made Christmas ornaments together. Laura was fascinated by criminal investigation and took classes at Clackamas Community College to become a paralegal and worked as an apprentice at the courthouse in Oregon City.
Her favorite thing was to get into the outdoors that she loved so much and go camping. The family camped all over Idaho and Oregon. She especially enjoyed Timothy Lake, Green Peter Reservoir and Clear Lake. She loved setting her tent site up to the point she was more comfortable there than at her own home! She loved cooking outdoors and just being in nature; the meadows, the fields and the wild flowers.
Laura was a pretty good cook at home as well and taught her grand-daughter, Tabitha how to cook.
Laura loved her family. She and Michael were close. She was always proud of him and impressed at how much he knew about computers. He became her teacher in computer stuff.
These last few years of her life were difficult at best. Tumors in her brain caused constant pain and other health issues and congestive heart failure kind of ganged up on her. But Laura refused to let her pain and suffering keep her from her family responsibilities. Every day she packed her husband a huge lunch, made him a full dinner, did the laundry and still made time for her son and granddaughter.
Laura was preceded in death by her father, Lewis. She is survived by her husband, Mike of Troutdale; her son, Michael, his wife, Rachael and daughter, Tabitha and their son, Rhette of Troutdale; her mother, Alberta and her brother, Ken Weaver of LA, CA; Sisters; Deborah and Luann both of Portland
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