Obituary for Willa “Kitty” Traughber - East Idaho News
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Obituary

Willa “Kitty” Traughber

September 5th, 1935 - January 11th, 2025

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Kitty was born September 5, 1935, to Jack Aubrey and Katherine Estelle (Hoffman) Moore at home in DeKalb, Texas. She spent many years living in places across the USA, but Texas was always home to her until her marriage to Dan Traughber in 1954, when they moved to Dan’s hometown near Swan Valley. Farming became her unpaid job, feeding sheep and lambs, cooking for haying crews, milking goats, and rounding up cattle.

In 1973, she attained her Bachelor’s Degree from Utah State University, and later earned her Master’s Degree in Curriculum emphasizing reading from Idaho State University.

After her retirement from teaching more than three decades at the elementary school in Irwin, while also volunteering as an EMT for ten years in the Swan Valley area, she and Dan traveled around the US, settling in southern Utah, where they enjoyed their lives as snowbirds. She continued this lifestyle even after Dan’s death in 2007, living a comfortable life of warm winters and beautiful summers in Idaho, sharing her homes with her four-legged companions. Her church membership included Chapel in the Valley (Swan Valley) and Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church (St. George, Utah). Libraries in both places benefitted from her patronage, as she often finished ten books a week.

She passed away January 11, 2025, under the care of hospice and her family, including her children, Marian Packebush, Pam, Jennifer, and Chuck Traughber. She enjoyed her 9 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

Mom knew that she was well loved.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 18, 2025, at the Chapel in the Valley, 3263 Highway 26, in Swan Valley. The family will visit with friends from 10-10:45 a.m. prior to services.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Crossroads (a prison ministry, P.O. Box 900, Grand Rapids, MI 49509-0900) or an animal shelter of your choice would be appreciated.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.woodfuneralhome.com.

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