Colleen Donna Hunt, 75

Our beloved mother went home to the Lord on Sunday, March 27, 2005.

A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 3, 2005, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.

She was born Colleen Donna Pierce on Dec. 4, 1929, in Hope, Idaho, the daughter of Samuel Sherman and Edith Pearl (Wiltse) Pierce.

She was the fourth of eight children and grew up on the farm at the top of Spring Creek.

She attended school in Hope, where she graduated the eighth grade before attending high school in Sandpoint. She graduated in 1949 from the old high school on Euclid Avenue.

Colleen then went to beautician school on Second Avenue, graduating in 1950, but before she could get started working, she met Stanford H. Hunt and they were married on May 5, 1950, in Plains, Mont.

She would spend the next 18 years following Stan from one logging job or truck driving job to another in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and California. Along the way she gave birth to 11 children, five boys and six girls.

Returning to Sandpoint in 1968, she decided to go back to work and started as a prep cook at the Litehouse Restaurant. She then moved on to Connie's and the Manor, finally settling in at the Traveler's Restaurant.

Her biscuits and gravy were the best in town for many years and her bread pudding was a favorite on the menu.

Colleen retired in 1993 so that she could spend more time with her grandchildren and catching up on her soaps.

She lived in the Cambridge Apartments on Cedar Street, where you could always find one of the grandkids. Besides her own grandchildren, she was Grandma to all the children who resided in the apartments. She could always seem to find a cookie or sandwich for whoever was passing through.

She is survived by six daughters, Holly (Roy) Hawkins of Three Forks, Mont., Molly (Jim) Forsmann of Sagle, Idaho, Carrie Peters, Jenny (John) Leen, Betsy Bartlett and Amy (Doug) Dexter; four sons, David (Millie) Hunt, Joe (Barb) Hunt of Sandpoint, John Hunt off Orofino, Idaho, and Jim Hunt of Seattle, Wash.; four sisters, Nina Conn of Post Falls, Idaho, Marie Pierce of Sandpoint, Nancy Singleton of Kootenai, Idaho, and Beverly Pennington of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; two brothers, Robert (Donna) Pierce of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and William Pierce of Post Falls, Idaho; three sisters-in-law, Clara (Emery) Hunt of Spokane, Dorothy (Hunt) Forgey of Connell, Wash., and Loretta (Hunt) Hamilton of Fairbanks, Alaska; a brother-in-law, Kenneth (Ellen) Johnson of Sandpoint; 33 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and, at last count, 128 nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 52 years, Stanford; a son, Steven A. Hunt; two grandsons, Trampas L. Hunt and Vincent D. Mancuso; and a sister, Sylvia P. Rhodes.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the local Wishing Star Foundation.

Final arrangements are entrusted to Coffelt Funeral Service of Sandpoint.