- Date Of Birth: February 24, 1931
- Date Of Death: June 15, 2019
- State: Idaho
Velma Eloise Wren was born as Velma Eloise Allred on February 24, 1931 in Arco, Idaho and passed away on June 15, 2019 in Boise, Idaho. She was born to Joseph Owen Allred and Lula Jackson Allred. She was the oldest of five children. Her siblings were Leland Allred, Jay Allred, Laron Allred, and Ilene Allred.
Velma grew up on a farm in Arco amongst extended family. She often spoke of her grandma Jackson coming each season to help them with the canning. She started working in the potato fields at a young age.
She was married at the age of 19 to which two children, Sheila Eloise Coy and Daryle Wren were born. That marriage ended in a divorce. She met Irvin Lloyd Wren while working at the hospital in the cafeteria. He was a maintenance worker and it was said that she burnt his toast and that started their relationship. They married on January 28, 1955. Two children, Lula Jo Halter and Effie May Dickerson were born to this marriage. This marriage was sealed in the Idaho Falls temple on April 13, 1962.
Mom went to nursing school while raising her family and became an LPN. She worked in hospitals and nursing homes until the time of her retirement. She loved working with the patients and had great compassion for them. In the last years of her career, when family would come to see her (at the nursing home), if we didn’t see her, we would stand in the halls and listen, because soon her laughter could be heard and that’s how she was found.
Mom loved her gardens. She grew large gardens and canned just about everything she grew. Canning with mom is a great memory. That continued throughout her life and is something us girls still continue to do ourselves. Most of her life was spent on acreages where they raised animals for food. All of us kids had the opportunity to learn how to milk a cow. The last 15 years were spent in town, close to Effie where the work wasn’t as hard and we could be close enough to take care of her as she needed. Two years ago, she moved in with Effie due to ongoing health issues. She lost the love of her life 20 years ago this year, we would have loved to have had an open window to see the reunion. One of our fondest memories of mom and dad was that after she would fix her hair, dad would run his hands through it. Of course, that irritated her, but he would say, “It’s because you have kind hair, the kind you like to run your fingers through.”
She had a great love for people and a great sense of humor. Many people have mentioned fond memories of some of her favorite sayings, such as bless your pointed head, or bless your pea-picking heart. When we would play cards and she was losing, she would always say, “Yup, I’m the cow’s tail that got pooped on”.
Velma was preceded in death by her parents and all of her siblings and her husband and all of his siblings. She is survived by all 4 of her children, 12 grandchildren: Alex Schwendiman, Anna Piston, Casandra Sweed, Joshua Halter, Monica Halter, Travis Halter, Jessica Taylor, Quinn Halter, Keith Dickerson, Timothy Dickerson, Sabrina Halter, and Marcus Halter; 23 great grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren.
We will miss her bright smile, one of a kind laughter, and her lamb’s wool hair.
Nampa 4th Ward Missionary Fund
c/o Bishop Steve Adamson
253 Holland Dr.
Nampa, ID 83651
