Chris Tiilikainen, 47

Christine "Chris" Tiilikainen, 47, of Boise, formerly of Mountain Home, died Monday, June 6, 2005.

Funeral mass was celebrated Tuesday, June 14, at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church. Burial followed at Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home. Visitation was held Monday, June 13, followed by the Recitation of the Rosary, at Summers Funeral Homes, McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home.

Chris was born July 12, 1957, in Ridgewood, N.Y. She was raised and educated in Coram, N.Y.

Chris was an outstanding student throughout her school years and graduated from Longwood High School in 1975. During that time she met the love of her life and future husband, Jari. They were married in 1979 and soon made their home in Connecticut.

In 1983 the family decided to move from the daily grind of city life to the beautiful mountains of Idaho. They lived in Mountain Home where Chris belonged to Our Lady of Good Counsel parish and made many friends in the Mountain Home community, her family noted. She was given an opportunity to work with Blue Cross of Idaho, which made it necessary to relocate to Boise. Chris was employed with Blue Cross for 13 years, "a team that she was dedicated to and was proud to be a part of. "

Chris's love for her dogs Rusty and Lucky was equal to a mother's love of her children, her family noted. "They were the most spoiled kids you could ever be around. They did no wrong in her eyes and they got whatever they wanted whenever. They were her guys and they meant the world to her. No child could have had more love than they had received. She was the best mother."

Chris is survived by: her husband, Jari, of Boise; her mother, Florence Kolb of Mountain Home; sisters and brothers Maryann Kolb-Bowman and Timothy Kolb of Boise, Kathy Schipani of Mountain Home, James Kolb of Cantonment, Fla., Michael Kolb of Novato, Calif., Bernadette Munoz of Ocean Springs, Miss., and Elizabeth Pugh of Eagle River, Ark.

She was preceded in death by her father, James H. Kolb, and her brother, Christopher Kolb.

Donations may be made in Chris's name to the Idaho Humane Society.