 1925 - 2011 (86 years)
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| Name |
Annabelle Sheilds |
| Born |
14 Jan 1925 |
Fulton County, Indiana  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Died |
21 Jan 2011 |
Idaho |
| Buried |
Wilder Cemetery, Wilder, Idaho |
| Person ID |
I71720 |
Virts |
| Last Modified |
19 Apr 2016 |
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| Notes |
- Idaho Statesman, January 26, 2011
Annabelle was born in Fulton County, Indiana, on January 14th, 1925, to Harley J. and Gertrude Studebaker Shields. Her family moved to South Bend, Indiana, when she was very young, and she attended school there until they moved to Idaho in March 1934, where her father farmed near Wilder.
While her sisters helped their mother in the house, Annabelle assisted Harley outdoors. She could drive a team of horses to pull a mower or a rake, rode a sweet little trick horse in local rodeo parades, was an excellent markswoman, and was star pitcher on her school's championship softball team.
Annabelle graduated with Wilder High School's class of 1943. She moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea with her sister, Ethel, and baby niece, Lorna, while Ethel's husband Dwight was stationed at Fort Ord. Annabelle waitressed in a fun caf? and enjoyed the experience of Carmel while it was still a small, quiet beach town.
The Harrison Noe family had also settled near Wilder in 1934, and one of the sons was Darwin Grant, whom Annabelle came to know as a neighbor, brother-in-law, and brother to her school friends. When Annabelle returned to Caldwell, Idaho, to work in a bank, she and Darwin began a brief courtship that was interrupted by his being drafted into the army and ordered to Ft. Benning, Georgia. When he received an eight-day pass before being shipped overseas, they were married in Caldwell, and then separated by the war for the first eighteen months of their marriage.
Upon Darwin's discharge, he and Annabelle really began their married life, moving to Bend, Oregon, where Darwin worked in the sawmill. They immediately began their family and welcomed their first three children: Layton, Alan, and Darlene. They scrimped and saved for ten years, so that they could purchase a small farm between Parma and Wilder, Idaho, in 1956. A year later son Duane was born, and their family was complete.
Annabelle was the embodiment of the hard-working, stay-at-home, lady-like mother of the nineteen-fifties and 'sixties. She cooked three square meals a day, tended the garden, kept the house immaculate, laundered with a wringer machine and a clothesline, almost always wore dresses (with an apron while at home or earrings for "going to town"), helped with homework, and played catch with the kids in the yard after supper. She was good and loving to her parents and doted upon by her siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews. She did not do heavy field work, but she trapped gophers and picked rocks and handled the paperwork, so that through the years she and Darwin expanded their farm and added Angus cattle and alfalfa seed components to the operation.
Annabelle was Room Mother for one or another child from the time Layton started elementary school until the time Duane left it. She taught children's and adult Sunday School classes at the Wilder Methodist Church, was Sunday School Superintendent for many years, and a member (and sometimes president) of the Methodist Women's Association for that church. She substitute-taught at Wilder High School in the early 'seventies.
When they became Empty-Nesters, Annabelle and Darwin enjoyed travel, dancing, hosting large army reunions, and meeting friends and family for brunch or lunch in Ontario, Caldwell, or Greenleaf. She immensely enjoyed helping out at Wilder Building Center, where it was a pleasure to meet the customers and to spend time with Duane and Helen.
She took a great interest in family history, tracing genealogy back for many generations and gathering interesting stories. She liked to read, especially histories of pioneers. She loved poring over photographs with the extended family. She was an OUTSTANDING cook, with specialties too numerous to mention, although her maple bars must bear mention. She was proud to be the daughter of a man who was born in a sod house in Indian Territory, Oklahoma. She had a keen mind, an astute memory, and an engaging sense of humor. Annabelle did so many things so very well, that it is no surprise that she became a wonderful grandmother. She made every one of her grandchildren feel special and was an outstanding model for their lives now and into the future.
As Alzheimer's disease slowly began to steal Darwin's memory and autonomy from him, Annabelle became his caregiver for 10 full years, 24/7, showing tender attentiveness in all ways, so that he could live at home with her for the remainder of his life. Darwin preceded Annabelle in death in May 2006. The hardest challenge of their lives came in 2002, when Layton died in a farming accident.
Annabelle was also preceded in death by her parents, her brother and sister-in-law Harold and Ruby Shields (Wilder), and her sisters and brothers-in-law Ethel and Dwight Noe (Parma) and Helen and Jun Cates (Caldwell).
She is survived by her sister Esther Neal of Gresham, OR. Surviving children include Layton's wife Teila of Caldwell; Alan and Debbie Noe, Shane and Darlene Hotchkiss, and Duane and Helen Noe of Parma; her grandchildren Justin and Laurie (and great-granddaughter Isabelle) Noe of Boise; Derek Barroso and Lindsey Noe of Parma; Drew and Kelley Noe of Parma; Danielle Noe and Anna Noe, Parma; Cheney and Gino (and great-grandson Christopher) Garza of Parma; Harrison and Wendy (and great-grandchildren Naomi and Oscar) Hotchkiss of Caldwell; Graham and Irma Noe of Marsing; and Jenette Noe at C of I in Caldwell. She leaves behind many nieces, nephews, dear neighbors, and good friends.
Services in her memory will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, January 28th, 2011, at Dakan Funeral Chapel in Caldwell. Guests are warmly invited to join in a special luncheon afterwards. Details will follow at the services.
In honor of Annabelle's devotion to Darwin all through their lives together, but especially in his time of greatest need, we suggest that memorials be given to the National Alzheimer's Association . Condolences and memories can be shared with the family online at www.dakanfuneralchapel.com
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