Lydia “Bunty” Corbett Angle went to be with her precious Lord on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, at the age of 85 at Kootenai Hospital in Coeur d’Alene, with her son and granddaughter by her side.
She was born May 5, 1936, at Cherokee, N.C., to Frank and Phoebe Corbett. Lydia was Choctaw and an enrolled Nez Perce Tribal member, an elder at First Indian Presbyterian Church of Kamiah.
Bunty married James Angle and they were later divorced. They had four children, Annette (Audon) Tomeo, of Glenwood, Wash., James (Marnie), of Culdesac, and Pat and LaDonna at the family home in Kamiah. Lydia was blessed with and loved with all her heart her grandchildren: Victoria, Michael, Kyle, Stella, Nico, Tomei and Christian, and five great-grandchildren and one on the way. She has one sister, Frances Bokinskie, from Minnesota, and five nieces and two nephews.
She enjoyed a good laugh, a ride along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers, a Zags game, Scrabble, lunching, or having breakfast with family and friends. She loved her dogs (they were family), Talmaks, the Brick House (her grandparents home in East Kamiah), and First Church.
In 1947, she began her teaching and ministry for the Lord in Sisseton, S.D., with a minister, Rev. Dr. Hunter Keen, and his wife, Barbra, and they became life-long friends. Lydia was a woman of God who was described as a “Hound of Heaven.” She wanted everyone to be with the Lord. She quoted scripture by heart, lived her faith by example, had a beautiful voice and loved to sing hymns. She served on the Native American Consulting Committee of the Presbyterian Church for a decade in the 1970s. She first became an elder in Spokane in 1974.
Lydia was a good listener and was encouraging to many in good and bad times. She was very generous, hospitable and loved everyone. She established the Lapwai and Kamiah Prayer Warriors; was named an elder for Ron Hutchcraft ministries; was instrumental in writing the grant for “Healing A Woman’s Heart Retreat;” and a grant for the Nez Perce tribe’s children’s home.
Lydia began her 17 years in social work in Pierre, S.D., in the 1950s. This is where she received her bachelor’s degree. She also had a master’s degree in social work from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash. In 1974 through 1977, Bunty worked for the Spokane District’s Indian Education Program. She worked for the Nez Perce Tribal School and also for Washington State Division of Children and Family Services.
Her loving spirit will be missed, but Heaven is rejoicing. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Phoebe, and her brother, Rev. Dr. Cecil Corbett.
There will be a celebration of life at 10 a.m. Jan. 29, live streamed from Kamiah's First Indian Presbyterian Church's Facebook and YouTube pages: facebook.com/FIPCKamiah and youtube.com/channel/UCTxehAtjVAz3AO26pqQQh7w. Rev. Dr. Mary Jane Miles will be officiating. In person attendance will be for immediate family only due to COVID protocol.
