Belva Margaret Richins

(Belva) Margaret Richins, age 95, died at her home, surrounded by her beloved family, in Sisters, on November 4.

She was born on August 29, 1914, in Hooper, Utah, to Parley Pratt Parker and Margaret Fowles Parker Gee. Margaret loved to garden, celebrate holidays, entertain guests, quilt, scrapbook, camp, travel, sew, cook, read and teach. She cross country skied until she was about 85 years old. She was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Margaret grew up in a small rural town near the Snake River in Acequia, Idaho. Her father died when she was only 15 years old. She was the eldest of four children, and helped support her mother as they moved from place to place trying to make a living. When she was almost finished with high school her family moved to Burley, Idaho, where she met William Dwaine Richins at Burley High School. They were born exactly one year apart on the same day, August 29.

Margaret attended Brigham Young University for only one year before she married Dwaine Richins on August 19, 1936.

Dwaine completed his bachelor's degree there and then they spent the next ten years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Arlington, Texas, while Dwaine taught and obtained his Master's Degree.

Janice, their first daughter was born in Louisiana, and Belva Ann was born in Arlington, Texas. Later, the family moved to Seattle, Washington, where Dwaine received his doctorate at the University of Washington. The family moved to Eugene, Oregon when Dwaine became a professor at the University of Oregon. Her two sons, Bill and Harold, were born in Eugene.

She earned her bachelor's degree in history and social science and then her master's degree in education from the University of Oregon. She taught junior high for many years in the Eugene School District.

Margaret and Dwaine loved to travel. In 1966, they traveled to the Netherlands, where Dwaine took a group of University of Oregon students for a year of study. They went to many other countries through the years - Russia, China, Yugoslavia, Australia and Europe. They also traveled all over Oregon and the United States in their motorhome.

In 1980, Margaret and Dwaine completed a home in Indian Ford. There she became a member of the Sisters Garden Club and the Casual Quilters. Since then she has enjoyed the beauties of Central Oregon, the snow capped mountains, the clear Metolious River, the friendly deer, and good neighbors and friends. Dwaine died in 2005 at the age of 92.

Margaret was also preceded in death by her daughter, Janice Marcusen Rocha. She is survived by her sister Arvilla Stone, from Idaho, Belva Ann Richins Wilberg, Bill Richins, Harold Richins, and Janice's children, Margaret Cameron and Glen Marcusen. She has, all together, 11 grandchildren and 16

great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the Sisters branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on 68885 Trinity Way at 11 a.m. on Friday, November 13. Friends may come one hour before the

services.