Roberta Hawkins

1/17/1931 — 9/5/2016

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Roberta L. "Bertie" Cash Hawkins, 85, formerly of Kamiah, passed away Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, at Kindred Care, Lewiston.

Born Jan. 17, 1931, at Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Bertie was the youngest of the five children of Robert M. and Gladys Dixon Cash. Her early years were spent in Bonners Ferry. Later, the family moved to Lewiston, where she attended Lewiston High School. Through her older sister, Rosie, she met a blond, curly-haired young man, Bill (Galeon) Hawkins, who had returned to LHS to complete his high school education after serving with the U.S. Navy Seabees during World War II. Bertie found humor in remembering him sitting at the root beer counter staring at her as she worked until she finally spoke to him. One of her fondest memories was of the 50 cents Bill gave her to buy two bananas, which had been unavailable during the war years. After Bill's graduation and completion of her junior year, they were married in 1947.

In 1951, they moved to Kamiah, where Bill began working at Potlatch's Twin Feathers Mill. They soon began building a home near Ninth and Idaho streets, where they lived until 1969, when they moved into another house they built in Bethman Addition, residing there until 2013. Each year, they delighted in sharing with all who drove by the house the Christmas lights and decorations displayed.

Determined to earn her high school diploma - even though she was a married mother of three children - Bertie enrolled at Kamiah High School, with the support and encouragement of the school superintendent, Helen Werner. Realizing there was no chapter of the National Honor Society at KHS, she remained especially pleased to have helped establish the first one. She was a proud 1958 graduate.

Bertie was employed for a time at State Hospital North in Orofino as an administrative assistant to one of the doctors. Not liking the daily commute, she left to work at the Kamiah Dairy as an assistant bookkeeper. (Let us say here, her three children thought the fringe benefits were the greatest - free ice cream bars from Bill and Bob Evans. The only bad thing was Bertie didn't allow us to make a daily habit of dropping in.) In 1960, she began a 28-year career with the U.S. Postal Service. In February 1974, she was appointed Kamiah postmaster. She retired with recognition in March 1988.

Throughout her life, Roberta was a poet. She has left us with a large collection of beautiful poems, many of them printed in the Kamiah paper. It was not uncommon to wonder where Mom went - oh, just busily writing away on any old piece of paper a poem that just came into her head and needed to be jotted down.

Both Bertie and Bill were active for many years in the Gold Trail Wranglers riding club. Many summers were spent hauling horses around for the kids to ride in gymkhanas and drill team. Mom was our official cameraman and has left us with reels of movies. Later, they were involved in the Clearwater Valley Roundup Association.

They made memorable travels throughout Europe, Scotland, New Zealand and Hawaii, but especially looked forward after retiring to their yearly trip to South Dakota to visit Bertie's mother's family.

Bertie was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Gladys Cash; her three sisters, Marian Wahle, Dorothy Sanford and Rose Anne Cavanaugh; her brother, Marvin Cash; and her husband of 67 years, Bill.

Survivors include her son, Bob and Linda Hawkins; her daughter, Terri and Tom Frei; her son, Mike and Angela Hawkins; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.

The family would like to especially thank the staff at Lewiston Kindred Care for the care they provided to our mother.

As she always told us "A new adventure begins."

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." - A.A. Milne

A private family service to lay to rest both Bill and Bertie's ashes at Normal Hill Cemetery is planned for a later date.

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