Leona (Toni) Ruth Mcrae

Leona (Toni) Ruth Clark McRae passed away peacefully at her home on Monday, November 22, 2021 after a long illness.  She was born on May 6, 1937 to Henry Lane and Anna Marie Christensen Clark of Ririe, Idaho.

Toni had three daughters from her first marriage, Janet, Janette and Patty when she married Larrin McRae on April 18, 1962.  Together they had two children, Connie and Kelly.

Toni grew up on the Clark farm east of Ririe and would often talk about riding her horse ten miles in the snow uphill both ways ;-) to a one-room school that included all grades, learning to drive a Jeep on the farm, driving the trucks to help her dad with the harvesting and flying across the snow in her brother’s snow plane that he invented.  Because she was vertically challenged, she used a block to get on her motorcycle and would have to pull up to the block when she wanted to get off.  She spent a lot of time with her father in the shop doing woodworking, using intricate pieces of wood to make tables and using the lathe to turn wooden bowls.  Her father was ingenious in the system that provided water to the house and barns by using a cistern located up the hill that pumped water from a spring down the mountain.  She inherited her father’s ability to solve problems by coming up with incredible solutions.

Toni was a very hard worker and enjoyed driving trucks, which she taught all of her kids to do.  She spent most of her young adult life working in agriculture and retired from Idaho Fresh Pak after 20 years.  She set a very high standard of work ethic she instilled in her family:  if you’re not going to do the job right the first time, you shouldn’t bother doing it at all.

Toni enjoyed crocheting, quilting, camping, riding her quad and kayaking with her family and her little dog, Penny who was her constant companion for the last fifteen years.  She loved horseback riding and, in addition to several horse camping trips where the family would spend a lot of time riding horses in the mountains, she also rode in several parades with one of her daughters.  She really liked spending time in her gardens and had beautiful flowers and the best berries and vegetables.  Due to her illness, for the past few years she wasn’t able to go pick huckleberries with the family so they picked the bushes and brought the huckleberries to her.  Her children and grandchildren were very fortunate that they learned how do so many crafts, including woodworking and make jams, jellies and relishes from the best!

Toni was preceded in death by her parents, five brothers, two sisters and her husband.  She is survived by her beloved dog, Penny; one sister; Thelma Clevenger of Richland, Washington, her five children; Janet (Rulon) Franck of Menan, Janette (Steve) Lundquist of St. Anthony, Patty (CJ) Mansfield of Caldwell, Connie Ackerman (Robert Smyth) of Watauga, Texas and Kelly (Violet) McRae of Rexburg, 24 grandchildren, 43.5 great-grandchildren, 6 great great-grandchildren and several nieces, nephews and other extended family.

Funeral services will be held on at 1:00 p.m., Monday, November 29, 2021 at Eckersell Funeral Home, 101 W. Main Street, Rigby, Idaho; Interment will follow at the at the Annis Little Butte Cemetery.  The family will visit with friends and family on Sunday, November 28, 2021 from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm and prior to the service on Monday from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm both at the funeral home.  Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.eckersellfuneralhome.com