Delores Waide

Delores Lea DeLuca Waide died on August 1, 2013 at The Lodge Assisted Living Facility in Post Falls, Idaho. Delores was born on September 16, 1942 in Kellogg, Idaho to Ernie and Sophie (Jacobson) DeLuca, joining her elder brother, Ernie, who was two years her senior. Her father Ernie worked at the Bunker Hill Mine while her mother worked as a hair dresser from their converted porch. The family remained in Kellogg where Delores enjoyed her growing up years surrounded by neighborhood friends, as well as her grandmother, Sanna Jacobson, who lived across the street, and her Aunt and Uncle, Lois and "Jake" Jacobson, who lived a few blocks away. She also loved visits to the DeLuca homestead on the Harrison flats to visit her father's family. She participated in school choir and was a member of both the Catholic and Lutheran churches in Kellogg. Delores graduated from Kellogg High School in 1960. Prompted by her Aunt Lois and inspired by a Coke commercial featuring an independent woman jumping on a San Francisco trolley car, Delores decided to go to college. She began in secretarial classes at North Idaho Junior College in Coeur d'Alene. After failing shorthand, Delores decided to switch her major to education. Due to a teacher shortage, Delores was awarded a two year provisional degree and allowed to begin teaching after only two years of college. She accepted her first teaching position as a first grade teacher at Harrison Elementary School at only 19 years of age. Almost by accident, Delores had stumbled upon a career that became one of the great passions and loves of her life. She continued teaching for six years, quitting to get married in 1968 to Dean Waide of Coeur d'Alene. She lived in various homes in the Harrison area for the remainder of her years. She gave birth to a son, Kevin, in 1969, and a daughter, Kelley, in 1970. In 1974, Delores returned to college, driving every day from Carlin Bay to the University of Idaho, then home again to finish her Bachelors degree in education. After completing her degree, Delores returned to the Harrison school district as a teacher in 1976, beginning with junior high students, then finally being transferred to teach the 3rd and 4th grades in 1980. She continued to teach at Harrison Elementary School until she retired in 2004. Delores's favorite subject to teach was History. In her classroom, she reenacted "colonial days" where students dressed in period appropriate clothes, boys were required to bring a stick of wood from home for the "fire," students were taught out of old text books and mistakes were rewarded with the "dunce cap." She also wrote a local history text book which she used in her classroom. Every year students also made a model of the town of Harrison before the fire of 1917 followed up by a field trip tour of the town of Harrison and its historic buildings. She loved teaching and loved her students. Before her retirement she had begun teaching the grandchildren of her first students. She was a member of the Harrison Historical Society and loved talking history with anyone who had a story, especially any Harrison history, a passion perhaps stemming from hearing stories about her own family, the DeLucas, who came from Italy to homestead on the Harrison flats in the early 1900s. Delores loved Harrison, and was so pleased to be honored as Queen at the Harrison Old Timer's picnic in 2005. Delores accepted Jesus as her Savior in 1990 under the preaching of Joe Williams. This experience forever changed her as it gave her a new joy and continually increasing understanding of God's great love for her. She knew she had someone to turn to in the storms of her life. She attended church for many years, finally attending Faith Ministries in Post Falls in the last years of her life. Delores also loved babies, especially her own children and grandchildren. She spent the last 9 years of her life living with her daughter Kelley and her family, taking walks, listening to music, swimming, taking picnics, and enjoying laughter with her family. She was preceded in death by her parents, Ernie and Sophie (Jacobson) DeLuca, and her Uncle "Jake" Jacobson. She is survived by her son Kevin Waide of Kellogg, her daughter Kelley Addington of Harrison, her brother Ernie DeLuca of Cataldo, her aunt Lois Jacobson of Coeur d'Alene, six grandchildren, numerous nephews and nieces, various great nieces and nephews. Her memorial service will be held at the Harrison Community Baptist Church on Monday, August 12, 2013 at 11:00AM. The service will be followed by a graveside service and a potluck dinner at the Harrison Senior Center.