Alma Riffle

Alma Margaret Riffle, 90,  a lifelong resident of the Sagle, Sandpoint area, passed away on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 at Pacifica Senior Living in Coeur d’ Alene.    Funeral services will be conducted 11:00AM, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017 at Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel, with Harvey Riffle former pastor of the Sandpoint Faith Evangelical Free Church, officiating.  Interment will take place in Pinecrest Memorial Park.  Family and friends are invited to a viewing for Alma on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017 from 1:00-5:00PM at Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel.   Alma was born Oct. 28, 1927 in Sandpoint, Idaho the daughter of Merton and Anna Bader Howell.  She was raised and educated in Sandpoint, graduating from Sandpoint High School.  Following her graduation she attended the University of Idaho for a year and later attended Lewiston Normal College from which she received her teaching certificate.   She married Norman Riffle at the Hitching Post in Coeur d’ Alene on Jan. 25, 1949, and they have celebrated 68 anniversaries together.   Alma thoroughly enjoyed teaching, and gave all her students a great start in a life of learning.  She taught at Morton School, Dufort School, Northside School, South Side School, at Sagle School for many years, later teaching at Washington School and Farmin School in Sandpoint.  The only time she wasn’t teaching was for a few short years when her children were young.    The following quote from Alma shows the depth of her love of teaching.  “I loved each child in my class.  I used to sit at my reading table quietly watching them, but what was going on in my mind as I looked at each child was how much I’d have loved him for my own.  They knew there was no favorite flower for me, that I liked a mixed bouquet best of all and that’s how I loved my children—all different!  I was blessed for having my own two children and nearly 700 I borrowed for a year.”   She enjoyed many activities including knitting, sewing, drawing and painting, collecting seashells, was an avid writer, and traveling with Norman.   She is survived by her beloved husband, Norman; 2 children: Steve (Laurie) Riffle of Spokane, Norma Jean (Dennis) Hanson of Spokane; 6 grandchildren: Matthew Hanson, Melissa Hanson, Garrett Hanson, Alexander Hanson, Steven Shaw and Kristi Nord as well as 2 great grandchildren: Jaden and Luke.  She was preceded in death by her two brothers: Merton and John Howell.