Charles William "Bill Stoker

Charles William "Bill" Stoker returned to his Heavenly Father on May 26, 2012, at the Parkwood Meadows Assisted Living Center in Idaho Falls. Funeral services were held on May 30 at the Grover LDS?Church. Bill was born was born on April 3, 1919 in Thayne. The son of Charles Ray and Sarah Margaret Titensor Stoker, he had two sisters to greet him, Lydia Berneice and Martha Leone. Berneice died on her birthday when she was 13-years old. They were a happy and loving family. Bill had many good memories of growing up. He was a prankster from the very beginning, always teasing his sisters. He learned to work hard as his dad was gone freighting most of the time, so Sarah and the kids had to run the farm and take care of things at home. He attended school in Thayne and Afton, where he was on the boxing and wrestling teams. He quit school when he wsa 17 to run the ranch when his parents moved to Afton. Bill married Edith Yeaman on Jan. 29, 1940. This union was solemnized in the Idaho Falls LDS?Temple on March 19, 1959. Together they raised three children, Dan W; Irene and Jim W. They taught their children to work hard and to play just as hard when the work was done. Bill and Edith were the victims of what is called Shivareeing (or getting drug out of bed at one or two in the morning) to fix breadfast or their friends, for the first five years of married life, as they were the first ones of their friends to get married. They had many fond memories of the early years of their marriage, working and playing together as a family. The kids learned to love being outside with their dad working and playing. They all learned to love horses, whether it was just working, riding, racing or hunting, it was all done together. Bill did everything he could to make an extra nickle. He hauled milk to the creamery, helped put in the Thayne water line, hauled school kids, shod horses for outfitters and individuals, used his first tractor to clean the snow out of the Town of Thayne, milked cows and worked hard running the ranch. He served on the Thayne Town Council, and was part of the Thayne Volunteer Fire Department. he helped clean and develop the Thayne Cemetery. Bill also helped dig many a grave with a pick and shovel. He helped build the new church under the direction of Bishop Oliver Haderlie. When it was built, he came to really respect and love this bishop. Bill was a charter member of the All American Cutter Racing Association, which started with the town boys running against the Muddy String boys down the main street in Thayne. Cutter racing became a family affair, as the kids loved to help wiht the horses and ride back to the truck after the race on the runners of the cutter. In 1969 Bill and Edith moved to Gover when Jim took over the ranch. He stayed busy trading horses, helping neighbors work cattle, camping, hutng and fishing. He also worked a few years for the Forest Service and Don Woods Tractor. When Edith retired in 1985 they started going to St. George, Utah, where they had many good times with Low and Ada Gardner and many other friends enjoying the warmer weather during the winter. He was a life time member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the Elders Quorum Presidency and the Sunday School Presidency. He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Edith; three children, Dan (Jane); Irene (Odean); Jim; 14 grandchildren; 48 great grandchildren; and two great great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; Charlie and Sarah; sisters, Berneice and Leone; granddaughter Billie Kay Merritt.