Elnora Adelaide Therien Rojan, 94
Elnora Adelaide Therien Rojan, longtime resident of Hope and Sandpoint, Idaho, died Sunday, may 30, 2004, in Sandpoint at the age of 94. A memorial service will be held in her honor Saturday, June 5, 2004, at 11 a.m. in the Moon Chapel at Coffelt Funeral Service in Sandpoint. The Rev. Nancy J. Copeland-Payton, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, will officiate. A reception and wake will follow at the Oden Hall at Sunnyside.
Elnora was the first daughter of a family of six. She was born Aug. 23, 1909, at St. Helens, Ore., to Charles Russell Therien and Hazel Elsie Franck. The family moved to Idaho in 1912. her father was a tool sharpener by trade and he worked for Tri-State Construction, a firm that had the contract to construct a road through North Idaho around the north and east side of Lake Pend Oreille into Montana. Her parents homesteaded 40 acres near Denton. She graduated from the eighth grade at Thornton School and attended high school at Hope.
In 1927, Elnora moved to Portland, Ore., and lived with her aunt, Ivy Therien Combs. She worked as a house cleaner in a boarding house, as a presser at Allen's Dyers and Cleaners and as a dental assistant making false teeth for Enamodent Laboratory. She lived with various relatives and friends until marrying Carl W. Rojan, a native of Hope, Nov. 28, 1931. At the time, Carl was working in Oregon in the timber industry. They continued to live in Portland and then returned to Hope in 1933. They purchased a home, began raising a family and lived there until 1965. in 1941, the family lived for one year in Clark Fork, Idaho, while Carl worked in the Whitedelf Mine. After World War II began, the family moved to civilian housing at Farragut where Carl working in Construction and maintenance for the Navy at Farragut Naval Training Station for the next four years. Following the war, the family returned to Hope and she cooked at Hope School at at Hurschell's Lighthouse.
After moving to Sandpoint in 1965, she cooked at Sandpoint Senior High school, where her cinnamon rolls became legendary. After retiring from her job at the high school, she worked for several years as a cook at Connie's in downtown Sandpoint. She loved to sew, make dolls and stuffed animals for her many grandchildren and loved charitable events and excelled at needlework. She also taught upholstery classes and enjoyed crafting ceramics items for family and friends.
Elnora had a lifelong love of birds and animals. She loved to regale family and friends with stories about caring and nursing birds, dogs or cats back to health. She was a longtime supporter of animal spay and neuter programs in Sandpoint and keeper of many cats and dogs over the years.
Elnora was an avid gardener, loved iris and roses and continued to water and tend growing plants right up to the day she died.
She is survived by her four children: Carol, Mrs. Gary L. Pietsch of Sandpoint, Patsy, Mrs. James C. Patton of Napa, Calif., Nora, Mrs. William E Nikkola of Veradale, Wash., and Russell W. Rojan of Rosamond, Calif; two sisters, Hope Elaine Loftin of Junction City Ore., and Violet Pearl Thornton of Clark Fork; 11 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. Her husband Carl preceded her in death, March 26, 1991, as did her brother Richard Russell Therien of Clark Fork, and three sisters Henrietta Frances Van Stone of Spokane, Wash., Doris Elsie Murrietta of Thoreau, New Mexico and Myrtle May Therien of Clark Fork.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be given in her name to the Panhandle Animal Shelter in Sandpoint.