Eileen Passey Ringel

Eileen Passey Ringel, 80, exchanged mortality for eternal life on October 17, 2005 at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, Idaho. Eileen was born October 9, 1925 to Ida Susan Howell and Leo Fowler Passey in Lanark, Bear Lake County, Idaho. She was the third child of eight children. She attended the two room school house in Lanark where she developed a love of learning and education. She attended Fielding High School where she met Joseph Robert Ringel, the man she was to marry at the conclusion of World War II, September 18, 1946. The marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple, November 5, 1947. Eileen and her high school sweet heart are the parents of five children: Rexine (Bill) Jensen, Merlyn (Donette), Kevin (Cathy), Tamara (Mark) Luthi, and Teena (Rodney) Priestley. Eileen has twenty two grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren with one more just around the corner. She is also survived by six brothers and sisters; Norma (Theo) Nelson, Gene (Elaine) Passey, Dora Lee (Rosco) Caldwell, DeVerl (Joan) Passey, Ordell (Myrna) Passey, and Glenn (Joan) Passey. As a young mother, she graduated with honors from Ricks College in 1964. She later graduated with honors from Utah State University in 1972 with her first grandchild in the audience. She taught fourth and fifth grades in Soda Springs for twenty years. Eileen was a valiant member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and took every opportunity to share her testimony with her children, grandchildren, and her friends. She served faithfully in many and varied church callings. Eileen and her eternal companion served in the Logan Temple from January 1987 to April 1993. They served a mission on Temple Square from April 1993 to April 1994. They then returned to serve as an ordinance worker in the Logan Temple from April 1994 to August 1998 when they moved to Rigby, Idaho to be closer to their two sons. Soon after moving to Rigby, Eileen and Robert were called to work in the baptistery in the Idaho Falls Temple November 1998 until January 2005 when she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She is preceded in death by her parents and her older brother, Duane. Funeral service will be held at 12 noon on Friday, October 21, 2005 at the Rigby 1st Ward Chapel with Bishop Rick Sterzer conducting. The family will meet with friends on Thursday evening at the Eckersell Memorial Chapel from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. and prior to the services on Friday from 10:30 – 11:45 a.m. at the Rigby 1st Ward Church. Burial will follow the services at the Paris Cemetery in Paris, Idaho at 5:00 p.m. under the direction of Eckersell Memorial Chapel in Rigby.