Mary Louise James
Mary Louise (Rubey) James was born January 19, 1944 at Jefferson County Hospital in Fairfield, Iowa to parents Roy Henry Rubey and Ethel Mae Schlarbaum Rubey. She was fourth of five siblings that lived on a 280 acre farm at RR 2 Brighton, Iowa. She was a Baptized and Confirmed member of Hope Lutheran Church in Germanville, Iowa. She attended Wayland Community Schools from Kindergarten to 12thGrade and was in the last graduating class of Wayland High School in 1962. After High School she attended Iowa Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing In Des Moines, Iowa and received a Diploma in Nursing in 1965.
After passing her nursing boards she worked at the Veterans Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa for approximately two years. She moved to Saint Louis Park, Minnesota and worked at the Veterans Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was introduced by the caretakers of the Meadowbrook Manor Apartment where she lived, to Robert N. James. He was from North Carolina, had a Southern accent, and had spent 8 years in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam Conflict. It was a whirlwind romance and they were married on September 5, 1970 at Hope Lutheran Church Brighton, Iowa. They lived in a rented house in Pipestone, Minnesota while Robert attended Meat Cutting classes under the GI Bill. Jobs for nurses in that area were scarce and on the way to the nearest VA in Sioux Falls, South Dakota they stopped at a small hospital in Luverne, Minnesota. She was hired, but it was winter and quite a drive from Pipestone. Another drawback was eventually she would work evenings and be the only nurse and would cover women in labor which she never did in her nursing career.
Robert felt he had learned all he needed to know about meat cutting and he was having to drive me to work and back because of the winter road conditions. So we packed all we owned in his green pickup and an 18 foot U-Haul. I followed him with my 1969 Chevy Caprice “on our way West”. His long range plan was to move to Alaska for the hunting. But such a trip in the month of December wasn’t such a good idea. We made it to Idaho and Mary wanted to stay in Pocatello, Idaho. In her youth she fell in love with Judy Garland in the movie “A Star is Born.” She sang “I was born in a truck in the Pittsburgh Theater in Pocatello, Idaho” The next morning as we were leaving our motel, it was snowing and within a half hour there was three inches of snow on the hood of my car. When people asked where we were headed we said Boise. Everyone said that’s the banana belt of Idaho. Compared to Minnesota they were right! There was more morning black ice than snow.
We arrived in Boise on the 23 rd. of December and stayed in a motel. The next day Robert went to the unemployment office and found the meat cutters were on strike. We found a duplex to rent near the airport on S. Stanley St. on December 24. Our first Christmas tree was purchased at Union Farm and Garden on Orchard St. They were closed but a person sold us a tree over the fence for a dollar. Christmas dinner was a goose taken during Minnesota hunting season. To create an income, he built an overhead camper in our garage. The materials were purchased from Overland Lumber where we made friends with Carol Knapp and his wife. It was eventually sold and he got a job at the airport refueling small aircraft.
While living on South Stanley St. Robert surprised me by trading my Chevy Caprice for a 1970 Cadillac Coupe Deville, which in time was called ‘Old Bessie’. Robert also worked as a meat cutter at a small grocery store on Franklin Rd.
Mary’s job hunting started at the VA but there was a freeze on hiring. She also applied at the two private hospitals. The same day she received word of a job at the VA, St Luke’s called but she turned them down. So her final VA employment started on January 18, 1971 on Ward 6.
Our second home in Boise was a two bedroom home at 2308 N 29TH St. From there he worked at Sears in their service department. He became a State Meat Inspector in the Treasure Valley and then decided to move to Coeur d’Alene in our Security Trailer. Mary wasn’t able to get a transfer to the Spokane Va. Meat inspection then became a Federal Job and he moved back to Boise. His next employment at the Old Prison as a Prison Guard eventually led to the Prison Farm at Eagle Island where he learned the trade of butchering from Kenny Bledso. After learning butchering he worked at Nampa Pack and then at Armors.
We had a small garden spot. After losing Robert’s Springer Spaniel “Brutus” to hookworm he got a Pitbull. But I became pregnant and Jennifer Lynn was born on March 18, 1974. Having that type of dog and a child wasn’t such a good plan. As Jennifer began to walk she saw the dog across the street and called “doggie doggie”. So we decided we needed another dog. Our first Pomeranian “Dutchus”.
When Mary became pregnant again, we needed a home with more than two bedrooms. After much looking Robert found a new subdivision with a perfect lot, a tri level with only a foundation, pressurized irrigation, that wasn’t in the city limits of Boise. The house was built during the winter and we moved in on May 1st, 1976 with Mary’s mother’s help and movers. At that point in time she was in her ninth month of pregnancy. On May 19th her water broke. The pipes for the irrigation were being dug and placed at the back of our lot. Robert was at work at the Boise Main Post Office. On May 20, 1976 Justin Robert was born at St Lukes. At that time all babies were born at St Lukes.
From that point on our family was complete.
A funeral service will be held at 11:00 am, Tuesday, October 15, 2024, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 5009 W. Cassia St. in Boise. A committal service will follow at 1:00 pm, at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, 10100 N. Horseshoe Bend Rd. in Boise.
Arrangements are under the direction of Bowman Funeral Parlor of Garden City.