Valerie Diane Vierstra

Valerie Diane Vierstra, 55 of Sagle passed away on Sunday, July 20, 2014 at her home in the loving care of her husband. Services will be conducted 1:00PM, Saturday, July 26, 2014 at Gamlin Lake Cemetery located behind the Church in the Wildwood. A potluck will follow at Garfield Bay. If you have questions regarding the potluck please call Kevin at 265-9315. Valerie was born August 19, 1958 in Loma Linda, California and lived in Fontana, CA for four years and then moved to Citrus Heights, California. Valerie loved to play baseball as a child and any other sport and could compete with the best of them. She always loved being with her nieces and nephews, camping, fishing, playing games, doing art projects together, collecting heart shaped rocks, driftwood at Folsom Lake and on the river. On their birthdays she would make them a custom designed birthday cake that was a work of art. She loved to organize and plan parties for any occasion and loved doing that for family and friends. One of Valerie’s finest traits was her gift of love. She was a caring, loving wife, best friend, and mother who showed her love to our son David and showed it every single day. She was a pioneer woman who moved to the backwoods of North Idaho into a small cabin and for the first few years lived without electricity, or running water and cooked on the top of an old wood stove with a kerosene lamp for light and she loved it. At night the three of us would sit outside at the outdoor fire pit and she would tell me that life couldn’t get any better than this. Our family spent all of our time doing things together without the interruption of television, telephones, computers and other things that take away from quality time. If Valerie was here right now she would say: Don’t grieve for me now I’m free, I’m following the path God laid for me. I took his hand when I heard his call, I turned my back and left it all. I could not stay another day, to laugh, to love, to work or play. Tasks left undone must stay that way, I’ve found that peace at the close of the day. If my parting has left a void, then fill it with remembered joy. A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss, Ah; yes, these things I too will miss. Be not burdened with times of sorrow, I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow. My life’s been full, I savored much, Good friends, good times, and a loved one’s touch. Perhaps my time seemed all too brief, don’t lengthen it now with undue grief. Lift up your heart and share with me, God wanted me now, He set me free. I love you Valerie! Honey I love you and will keep you in my heart forever, you have always been the love of my life, a loving wife, a best friend, a great mother to our son, and I will miss you. Love Kevin! From Larry and Lola: All four of my sisters are the utmost meaning of the best sisters: four sparkles in my eyes that I have always and will forever see. On a scale of one to ten they all get tens. I will miss my sister Valerie with all of my heart. I love you very much. Larry and Lola. To anyone that knew her, to say “Valerie is Valerie” says it all. She was a unique and talented individual. No one made her do anything she did not want to. If she did not want to hear it, she didn’t. Even though she was a daddy’s girl, she loved her mama and her daddy both very much. She spent most of her time growing up getting into trouble, sometimes getting caught and sometimes not; enjoying life to the fullest, no matter how many headaches it gave our parents. She did have lots of help with this though, from most of her siblings. An angel, no; a loving person, yes. If she loved you, you definitely knew it and were lucky for it. If she didn’t you knew that too. She loved to show people that doubted her they were wrong. I think the story she liked to tell that proved this was the one when one summer as a young women, she was at Folsom Lake and the water was low. She was walking around and saw eyes in the water and knew it was a catfish. She pulled a hook and some string out of her pocked and tied it to a stick (who carries fishing string and a hook in their pocket? Valerie.) She then started fishing for that catfish. While three wise and experienced fishermen with their fancy gear started laughing and funning her. Well we all know she caught that fish and they stopped laughing. Her motto was if you think I can’t, I’ll show you I can. She was strong, talented and creative in so many areas. She made beautiful wooden carvings for her mama that now hang on her son’s walls. She loved making pinatas, spending hours putting them together so they would be perfect just to see the smiles when the kids would break them apart. We all know her potato salad was the best. She was a beautiful, loving and caring mother, which she showed to her son, Davey. We know she was weak as well. Weak in the knees when it came to Kevin, that handsome guy that drove the black mustang. Not so strong when it came to making life long decisions that would take her from us too soon. This made us all mad, but we forgive her. My sister Valerie, full of life, full of love and a pain in the neck. I love you and miss you. Your sister Berta.