Ella Elizabeth Pitcher, 94
Pitcher
Ella Elizabeth Pitcher, 94, of Silverton, Idaho, and formerly of Chewelah, Wash., passed away Feb. 8, 2023, at Good Samaritan Society – Silverwood Village in Silverton, Idaho. “Beth,” as nicknamed by her high school classmates, was born July 30, 1928, in the small rural town of Gasoline, Texas, a daughter of Raymond Douthit Hire and Truly Olive Howard.
Beth graduated from the Buhl, Idaho High School in May 1946 and then married her sweetheart, Jack Alvin “Rocky” Rauch, a country western musician and singer on May 12, 1946. During their 46 years together, Beth and Rocky traveled throughout all the states west of the Mississippi River.
She enjoyed horseback riding, even winning second place in a competition trail ride, and enjoyed fishing, hunting and camping with her family. She considered herself generally an outdoors person and loved her flowers and gardening. Sewing western-style uniforms for Rocky and clothes for her girls gave Beth great joy. She often said that losing the ability to sew because of macular degeneration was harder to give up than driving a car.
In 2011, Beth moved to Chewelah, Wash., where she joined the Abundant Life Fellowship (Free Methodist) Church and added numerous new friends. Beth would frequently say, “There isn’t much I haven’t done during my lifetime” and how much she treasured her many friends, both new and old. She will be sorely missed by her family and dear friends.
She is preceded in death by her first husband, Rocky, who died in 1992; her great-granddaughter, Sara George, who died in 2004; and her only sibling, George William Hire, who died in 1948. Beth remarried in 1997 to Robert Cyril Pitcher who passed away in 2005.
Beth is survived by her two daughters, Connie Jean Fleetwood of Post Falls, Idaho, and Teresa Kay Shannon of Chewelah. She was also the proud grandmother of nine grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 25, 2023, at the Abundant Life Free Methodist Church, on the corner of Second and Clay, in Chewelah.
Shoshone Funeral Services, Kellogg, is assisting her family with arrangements. Memories of Beth and messages of condolence may be expressed to her family online at www.shoshonefuneralservice.com.