Florene Allen Rickman, a Nez Perce tribal member and retired homemaker, entered into eternal rest Monday, April 5, 2010, of complications from a brain aneurysm. She was 80 years of age.
Florene was born March 8, 1930, at Lapwai to William T. Allen and Rena McCormack. She spent most of her life in Lapwai.
Florene had two sons, Melvin E. Rickman and Douglas R. Marconi Sr.
She was a member of the Lapwai United Methodist Church and also a member of the Nez Perce Tribe Circle of Elders. Florene enjoyed weaving, picking huckleberries and, in her younger years, root digging in the mountains, and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Florene worked as an art teacher assistant at Lapwai School for several years.
Her survivors include her sisters, Vera Sonneck and Freda Allen of Lapwai; stepsister Bernice Moffett of Kamiah; brother Orrin Allen of Lapwai; stepbrothers, Guy Broncheau Sr. of Lapwai and Allen Slickpoo Sr. of Orofino; children, Melvin and Lana Rickman of Lapwai, and Douglas and Diana Marconi Sr. of Toppenish, Wash.; and her nine nieces, four nephews, seven grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, as well as her numerous cousins, friends, and all of those who knew and loved her.
Florene was preceded in death by her parents; brothers Melvin, Earl, George, Kenneth, and William T. Allen, Jr.; Caleb and Samuel Slickpoo, Jr.; stepbrothers Calvin and Robert Broncheau; sisters Gilda and Dora Allen; as well as a grandson, Douglas Marconi Holt.
A memorial service will be conducted 7 p.m. Thursday at the Lapwai United Methodist Church, with a funeral to follow at 10 a.m. Friday at the church. Arrangements are with Malcom's Brower-Wann Funeral Home in Lewiston.
