Mom passed peacefully from this life on Saturday morning, Dec. 14, 2024, from complications of old age. She was just tired, and wanted to “go home.”
Helen Marie (McManus) Batterton was the daughter of James Franklin and Gertrude Louise (Gropp) McManus. She was their first born and joined the family in Lewiston on April 26, 1931, according to her birth certificate, but her mother always insisted that it was the 25th and that the doctor just didn’t remember it correctly when he filled out the record of her birth. So … she liked to celebrate on both days if she could get away with it.
In 2003, Mom wrote an autobiography and I’m reading through it now and realizing what a treasure she made for all of us. She tells about her family moving back to Bemidji, Minn., when she was only 6 weeks old until 1936 when they moved back to Coolin, Idaho, and then Lewiston, where she started school. In 1940, Grandpa got a job with the Camas Prairie Railroad and they moved to Central Ferry, Wash. She reminisced about tending livestock, of picking raspberries and learning how to avoid the snakes; about exploring the Snake River bluffs and walking three miles to school (yes, both ways); of learning to play piano by watching her mother play. She wrote of hearing President Roosevelt announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She talked about her first paying job at the age of 14 washing dishes at the Majestic Café in Lewiston after they moved back there for awhile; and in 1945 moving back to Washington and her second paying job washing dishes at the old Central Ferry Store. She began Pomeroy High School in 1945 and she tells of Saturday night “parlor sessions” where friends and neighbors would gather at their house to play music, sing and dance. She said, “Music to me is still very comforting and relaxing. It gives me a feeling that everything is right with the world.” She talks of sleigh rides and hot chocolate; of the 1947-48 winter when it was so cold the Snake River froze over; of carding wool to make batting for quilts; and of meeting Carl Batterton. She and Carl were married (twice) on Oct. 15, 1949. Dad belonged to the First Christian Church of Pomeroy so they got married there, then walked a few blocks down the street to her Catholic Church where they were married again, making all sides of the family happy. It must have worked as they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary this year.
After their marriage they settled in Garfield County and worked with his dad (Robert) on the wheat farms. Carl and Helen lived first in a little house near the Central Ferry Store. In the winter she would place an old apple box in the window to serve as a refrigerator. They also lived in the old Morris home (on Willow Gulch) where the walls were made from 1x12 boards with no insulation. They had to place strips of wood over the cracks between boards to keep the weather and the critters out. They lived at the Taylor place for five years then on the Freeburn place for awhile. By 1965, they were living in a mobile home situated right next to the old Carter place on Willow Gulch.
She loved to laugh, joke, dance and do fun things with her family and all their friends from the county. There were lots of stories shared about the good times they had with the Tetricks, the Kollers, the Wolfs and so many others over the years. One story she loved telling was about getting all dressed up for a Halloween party and they must have been great costumes. She dressed like a guy and Dad got all dolled up like a girl. But … they had a flat tire and Dad hopped out to change it while mom sat in the car. A very nice truck driver stopped to help the “lady in distress” while throwing looks at the worthless “husband” who was in the car leaving his “lady” to do the tire work.
In 1977, they sold their land and re-settled in Colfax and Dad went to work for the USDA as a farmer in Pullman. In May 1993, Dad’s father died and his mother (Marye) was living in a nursing home for Alzheimer’s patients in Moscow. They purchased the Batterton home, in Pomeroy, from his dad’s estate and began remodeling the home before moving back to Pomeroy when he retired in October 1993. They spent several happy years there doing some RV camping and seeing the sites of the Pacific Northwest. In 2004, they decided to move to Walla Walla and eventually resided at the IOOF Apartments and Retirement Care Facilities Campus where they were living at the time of Mom’s death.
She is survived by her husband, Carl; two sons — Mike (Vicki) Batterton, of Rathdrum, Idaho, and Larry (Sherri) Batterton, of Yakima; one daughter Gwen (Steve) Ewing, of Caldwell; two brothers — Richard (Marnae) McManus, of Leavenworth, Wash., and Jim (Carol) McManus, of Kingman, Ariz.; two sisters Ruth James, of Clarkston, and Dorothy (Ron) Watkins, of Shelton, Wash.; six grandkids: Rita, Chad, Cory, Ryan, David and Jeff; 16 great-grandkids; two great-great-grandkids; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorial service arrangements are pending for a later time.
She will be missed.
