Elgena Evelyn "Jeanie" Draine, 78
Elgena Evelyn "Jeanie" Draine, 78, was born in Boise, Idaho, on June 5, 1926, and died March 22, 2005, at Immanuel Lutheran Home, after a hard-fought and painful battle with matastatic lung cancer. She was spunky, but she could not overcome this insidious disease, caused by cigarettes.
She is survived by her daughter, Gloria E. Marin, and her husband, Gary, of Kalispell; granddaughter, Sherry Ann Miller, of Santa Fe, N.M., the state's radiation specialist; grandson, Army Staff Sergeant Patrick Jay Marin of Ft. Hood, Texas, and his wife, Georgina; great-grandson, Alexander Jay Marin; stepsister, Georgie Koll of Ronan; and aunt, Florence Fuller, of Wendell, Idaho; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was raised in Southern Idaho and attended business school in Twin Falls, Idaho. She met and later married Myron Kenneth "Mike" Draine on March 15, 1945. They were married for 53 years before he died on Dec. 15, 1998, of emphysema and heart damage, the result of smoking cigarettes.
Jeanie and Mike farmed near Jerome, Idaho, and managed a sawmill in the Stanley Basin, north of Sun Valley, Idaho, before moving to Salmon, Idaho.
In the late 1950s, Mike bought a house and moved it from Cobalt, to Salmon, which led to a 25-year career in house moving. In 1964, the family moved to Missoula, and Jeanie helped out by being secretary, bookkeeper, flagger, and sometimes cook for the crew. Mike also purchased houses when the University of Montana and St. Patrick's Hospital expanded and moved them to East Missoula to rent. Jeanie helped with repair, painting and was a dry wall expert. You couldn't tell where the seam was after she perfotaped and painted where the sheetrock joined together.
She was an avid animal lover and enjoyed flower gardening, reading, and watching animal programs on TV. She loved her family and they loved her back, in spite of some differences of opinion with "the sassy one." She will be missed.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Myron Draine; father, Robert Thurman Miller, and mother, Mary Ellen Miller Wilcox; a sister, Kathryn King; and brother, Robert M. Miller, who also died of emphysema, directly related to cigarette smoking. Her grandparents were Emanuel and Ellen Achenbach. She never got over the loss of her loved ones and missed them every day.
At her specific request, no memorial is planned and cremation has taken place. Interment will be in Salmon, Idaho. Arrangements are under the care of Buffalo Hill Funeral Home.
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.