Virginia Shoulders

Virginia S. Shoulders died Saturday, April 26, 2014, at the age of 91, at St. Lukes Elmore hospital in Mountain Home.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, May 1, 2014, at 11 a.m. at the First Southern Baptist Church, 1400 N. 3rd East St., in Mountain Home. Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel.

Virginia was born Sept. 28, 1922, in a little house in Burke, S.D., and raised in the County of Mellette, South Dakota. She was the fifth of 11 children born to Oscar and Wilma Stone, who were farmers and ranchers. Wilma came to America as a young immigrant girl from Germany and she wanted to be a strong American citizen in raising her family with love. By today's standards, life was not easy for this family, but with a strong and loving mother and father who played several string instruments (banjo, violin, guitar and mandolin) the kids thought this was the greatest home there ever was.

Virginia met a young soldier, John W. Pursell, and they were later married. From that union four boys were born: Robert (Bob) Pursell, John W. (Bill) Pursell Jr., David James Pursell and Stephen E. Pursell. If you ever met Virginia the one thing she would say was "you don't mess with my boys." She was so proud of them.

Besides being a homemaker, Virginia worked as a waitress at several cafes in Fort Morgan, Colo. Later, her husband, John, and she opened the Fort Morgan Café and ran a successful business until John went back into the U.S. Air Force, from which he later retired.

Virginia's last job was working in the school lunch program at East Elementary in Mountain Home.

John and Virginia divorced in 1959.

Virginia, later in 1961, married James Shoulders, who preceded her in death in 2006. Virginia was a great artist and loved painting mountain scenes. She also enjoyed singing and writing about her family history.

Virginia is survived by her sons, Robert Pursell (Rose) of Mountain Home, John W. (Bill) Pursell Jr. of Mountain Home, David Pursell (Mary Lou) of Mountain Home, and Stephen Pursell of Corvallis, Ore. She is also survived by eight grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands John Pursell and James Shoulders, six brothers and four sisters.

The family requests that memorials in Virginia's name be made the First Southern Baptist Church, 1400 N. 3rd East St., Mountain Home, ID 83647.