- Date Of Birth: February 15, 1936
- Date Of Death: December 12, 2022
- State: Idaho
Our dear mother and grandmother Divola “Dee” Nettles-Herr passed away on December 12th, 2022 from natural causes. She was 86 years old. Divola was born in Barker’s Creek, North Carolina to Frank and Della Wikle.
Even from an early age she was known to be a determined and strong-spirited individual. One such example of this determination can be found in the story of how she married our father. James “Jim” Nettles was introduced to my mother through her own sister LaVerne and her husband James while on leave from the Air Force. During his leave he would spend his time travelling from his hometown of Sutton, West Virginia to see our mother. After several of these trips and time spent together, he asked for her hand in marriage while he was on active duty in Germany. With no method of transportation (and against her parent’s wishes), she set out to marry him. After hitchhiking and several military flights later, including one helicopter ride, she landed in Germany where she was married within hours and became Mrs. James Nettles.
Their journey began there, where their first son Anthony Eldon Nettles was born followed five years later by their second son Gregory Alan Nettles. The miliary life took them to such places like Greece, Texas, Shemya Island, and Anchorage, Alaska where Jim retired from the military in 1973. In what was supposed to be a temporary stop, the family of four moved to Boise where she made some lifelong friends through her devoted career.
Years later she would find the second love of her life, Ronald “Ron” Herr and the two were married in 2005. Dee retired soon after and they lived a very happy and content life, splitting their time between their home, their cabin in Donnelly, and adventuring outdoors whenever possible. Ron passed away on November 28th, 2019.
Our mother taught us the importance of hard work, self-respect, and accountability. She taught us to always stand up for ourselves and to never back down in what we knew to be right regardless of the situation. She taught us that doing so will always feel much better in the long run.
In the time we were growing up, superheroes were always men: Superman, Batman, etc. It wasn’t until much later Wonder Woman came along and made us realize women could be superheroes too. But well before Wonder Woman came along, Divola Nettles-Herr was already a superhero. She was OUR superhero, and always will be!
Dee is preceded in death by her mother and father Della and Frank; siblings Alvin, Dorothy, LaVerne, Ruth, Joe; granddaughter Sarah; and daughter-in-law Margaret. She leaves behind her two sons Greg and Tony; daughter-in-law Carol; stepsons Kent Herr, Robert Herr, and Jason Herr; grandchildren Nick (Sheena), Rachel (Jerad), Hunter, Parker, Kate, Tadman; and two great grandchildren Dylan and Nate.
