Berneal Fay Niccolls was born in Star, Idaho on May 3, 1921, to Herbert Oliver Niccolls and Hazel Katherine Niccolls. She passed away on December 4, 2018 in Placerville, California at the age of 97.
On June 4, 1946, she married Floyd Lester Rathbun in Boise, Idaho. After Floyd’s death in 1968, she married James Griggs in 1975.
She was preceded in death by her parents, both husbands, her identical twin sister Bernice Ledbetter, her brothers Eldon Niccolls, Wesley Niccolls, Herbert Niccolls, Hudson Shake, and Paul Niccolls.
She is survived by two sisters, Edna (LeRoy) Descombaz of Yuba City, CA and Katherine (Lee) Jay of Scotts Valley, CA, a son, Gary Rathbun of Placerville, California, a daughter, Sharon Shein, of Casper, Wyoming, two grandchildren, Natalie (Zane) Potter of Casper, WY and Joshua (Melinda) Shein of Glenrock, WY, four great-grandchildren, several nephews, nieces and cousins, and many friends.
Berneal made her choice to serve God at an early age and was true to that choice all her life. She loved the fellowship of the church and other friends. She was very faithful in writing letters to the ministers of the gospel.
She enjoyed time with her family, gardening, canning, sewing and quilting; her home was surrounded by a myriad of flowers. She taught many of the younger generation in the family to crochet. Berneal followed several lifestyle practices of the generation before her: she ground her own flour, churned butter, tanned deer hides, and made lye soap.
She was always a hard worker, and worked as a live-in caregiver well into her 80’s, sometimes caring for people several years younger than she was.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 8th at 11:00 a.m. at the Machinist Hall, 2749 Sunrise Blvd, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742.
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