Jeannie Nez Perce, 65
Jeannie Nez Perce (formerly Lola Jean Werk) was born Aug. 26, 1958, in Harlem, Mont. She passed Dec. 17, 2023, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with family at her side.
Services were held at Saint Paul’s Mission in Hays, Mont., and she was buried next to her parents, one brother and one sister, and several nephews in the family cemetery that overlooks her childhood home.
Jeannie attended high school at Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Okla., and returned to Montana, where she married Bud Campbell and had her first child, Jason in 1980. She had another child, Chase, in 1982 before leaving Montana to move to Sandpoint, Idaho, where she married Rik Mikkelsen and had a third son, Halvor, in 1985. Jeannie subsequently met Terry Thurlow, with whom she lived until her death.
Jeannie loved being a mother and loved being a grandmother even more. Prior to her death she was able to go on bucket list trips to Costa Rica with her grandchildren, Cooper and Gunnar, and to Norway to visit her youngest granddaughter, Emma. She enjoyed camping, hiking, hunting, birdwatching and spending time in nature with her grandchildren and teaching them about the outdoors.
She was a fantastic cook and enjoyed trying new recipes and making her signature chicken noodle soup for her grandkids. Jeannie worked for the Idaho Department of Lands, where she retired in August 2023 after 33 years. During her time there she spent several years as a communications leader on a wildfire response team, which allowed her to meet numerous new friends and travel to locations across the country to work on various fires and other natural disasters.
Jeannie is survived by her sons, Jason of Spokane, Wash., Chase of Oslo, Norway, and Halvor of Otisville, N.Y.; and her three grandchildren, Cooper and Gunnar Campbell, and Emma Mikkelsen; her siblings, June, Dianne, Charlotte, Annafay, Evan Laurence and Joe, Terry Thurlow, Rik Mikkelen, Joe Cuddemi; as well as several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Luella and Elwood, siblings Mike and Lila, and ex-husband Bud.
