June Francis Waters

BURLEY – June Francis Waters passed away peacefully on Monday, July 13th, 2026, at the age of 104.

June was born in 1922, near Paul, Idaho, the second child of Aaron and Anna Boldt. After her father, Aaron, was killed in a mining accident in Utah, June, her mother, and sisters Dorothy and Grace moved to Rupert where she spent most of her childhood. After graduating from high school, she began attending the Albion Normal School, intent on becoming a schoolteacher. While there, she met Dean Waters.

June and Dean married in March 1941, and moved to Dean’s 40-acre farm west of Burley where they raised their three children: sons, Gary and Leon Waters; and daughter, Kaye Quesnell. June and Dean were married 51 years.

June lived her life with the philosophy that she “wanted to wear out, not rust out”, always working hard whenever she could. She worked on the farm with Dean, weeding beans, thinning beets, cutting seed potatoes, and occasionally driving trucks during the harvest. She also served as the bookkeeper for the farm, keeping detailed notes and ledgers.

She excelled as a gardener, growing vegetables, fruit, roses, and just about anything she put her mind to. She mowed her own lawn with a push mower well into her 80s! She loved her family and was always happy to babysit her grandchildren.

During the fall and winter, when there was no gardening to be done, June sewed quilt after quilt. Some of them went to family and friends to use as bedding or picnic blankets. However, the greatest number of quilts were doll-sized and went to the Mini-Cassia Christmas Council for decades. One year she made over 50! Many children in the area received a doll with a quilt handmade by a grandma they never knew they had.

June was always very independent; she lived alone in her own house well into her 90s until a broken hip required a move to assisted living. While in assisted living, she developed the habit of walking one mile per day which she continued even when confined to a wheel chair in the last year.

June loved to play games, particularly card games. She started playing Pinochle as a child and played her last game on her birthday in June 2026. She cherished spending Sunday afternoons playing cards with her friends and daughter, Kaye.

June was a long-time member of the Burley First Christian Church where she was active in the women’s fellowship group. She was always happy to provide her fabulous pies for church dinners.

June was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Dean; her children, Gary, Leon, and Kaye; and her sisters, Dorothy Spackman and Grace McKee. She is survived by seven grandchildren and numerous great- and great-great-grandchildren.

Friends and family are invited to an open-house style Celebration of Life (and maybe a game of Pinochle) on August 15, 2026, at the EdgeWater Restaurant, 530 Hampton Drive, in Burley, from 2-4 p.m.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home of Burley.