Laura Louise (Fenner) Nearing of Potlatch passed away Saturday, May 14, 2016, in Tacoma, at the age of 96.
Laura was born Dec. 7, 1919, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Andrew and Mary Jane Fenner. When she was 4, the family moved to Potlatch, where her father worked in the white pine lumber mill there.
Laura attended Potlatch High School. She lettered in basketball and graduated as valedictorian in 1938. She earned her degree as a registered nurse at Sacred Heart School of Nursing in 1942 in Spokane. After working in a Vancouver, Wash., shipyard building LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) during the war, she traveled to Alaska, California and Colorado with her friend and fellow Sacred Heart graduate, Dorothy Wechsler, where they worked as nurses.
She married Wesley S. Nearing in 1948. They lived in Farragut, Idaho, before settling in Klamath Falls, Ore., where they started their family. She and Wesley and their three children moved to Kansas City, Mo., in 1960. In 1967, the family moved to Omaha, Neb., where Laura worked as a school nurse. In 1974, Wes and Laura moved to their farm in Hauser Lake, Idaho. After Wes retired from United Airlines, they raised sheep on their farm. After several years, they sold the farm and bought a home in Princeton. Later they lived in Moscow and then Lewiston. In 2014, they moved to Tacoma to be near their oldest daughter. Laura enjoyed reading, sewing, crafts, traveling and her many animals.
Laura was preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Lyle and Donald Fenner.
Laura is survived by her husband of 67 years, Wesley; son Andrew S. Nearing; daughters Julie M. Benedict and Catherine E. Larklund; four grandchildren, David Nearing, Jason Nearing, Miranda Taff and Lindsey Benedict; and 10 great-grandchildren.
