Betty Lou Gordon Towles

Betty Lou Gordon Towles made her transition peacefully on May 27, 2008, at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Wash.

There will be a public graveside service for her at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008, at Greenwood Memorial 211 N Government Way, in Spokane.

Attendees will meet at the white house between 10:30 a.m. and 10:50 a.m. and be lead by procession to the graveside.

Betty Lou was born on March 1, 1922, in Spokane to Vera Fletcher Gordon and Gunner Gordon of Sandpoint, Idaho.

She was happily raised in Sandpoint and graduated from Sandpoint High School a year early in May 1939. She attended the University of Idaho and was a proud member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

It is there she met James Towles and they married on Feb. 7, 1943. Betty graduated from the University of Idaho in the spring of 1944 with a degree in home economics.

While her husband was away during the war, she worked with Dorothy Dean writing columns for the newspaper in Spokane.

From 1950-1982, she lived in Kellogg, Idaho, where she raised three children and taught kindergarten for many years. She always enjoyed the little ones and found great satisfaction in this work.

In 1982 Betty Lou and husband James retired to their lake home in Blue Creek Bay on Coeur d’Alene Lake, where they lived happily for 23 years.  

She is survived by her three children, Janice Towles of Spokane, James Towles of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Stephen Towles of Seattle; and seven grandchildren Kirsten, Bridget, Tiffany, Tyson, Timothy, Jordan and Caroline; as well as four great-grandchildren Kayla, Harmony, Kyle, and Ashley.

A reception will follow at the Lake Home in Coeur d’Alene. Directions will be provided at the service or you can call (206) 229-7496.