Lila Marie Appleton, beloved wife of Richard L. and mother of Michael A. and David M. passed away on Saturday, January 5, 2019 at St. Lukes Hospital in Boise. A Memorial service will be held on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 11:00 A.M. at Rost Funeral Home, in Mountain Home.
Lila was born in Lexington, Nebraska on July 25, 1940 to John and Anna (Jelinek) Cleland. As a teenager, she lied about her age to work as a car hop at a fast food restaurant. She graduated from Lexington High School. Her parents divorced and her mother later married Bernard Miller. They moved a lot because of construction jobs. She lived in Topeka, Kansas, Grand Island, Nebraska and several other towns and cities to include Little America in the western part of Wyoming. She said her step dad would come home and tell them “we have another job to go to” and pack up and leave. They finally settled in Omaha, Nebraska where she met her husband Richard in 1961. Richard joined the Air Force in January 1962 and Lila and Richard got married on June 24, 1962 in Omaha. They went to Lowery AFB in Denver, Colorado. After that, they went to Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska and then moved to Cannon AFB, Clovis, New Mexico. Lila moved back to Omaha when Richard was sent to Vietnam. She moved back to Clovis when Richard was stationed back there again. During Richards’s military career, they were stationed at several bases including Edwards AFB in California, Torrejon AFB, Spain, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, Williams AFB, Arizona, Lowery AFB, Colorado, Cannon AFB, New Mexico and finally to Mountain Home AFB.
Lila worked at the Army and Air Force Exchange System (AAFES) at every AFB listed above, finally retiring in July 2002 from the Mountain Home AFB exchange. After retiring, Lila and Richard purchased a 5th wheel camper and traveled through Canada and Alaska with their friends Lyle and Francoise Collins in 2006. In 2008, Lila and Richard took the camper and traveled a crossed the US to Washington DC down to Florida then across to Arizona and back home. During that trip, they stopped at numerous locations to visit family and friends. Lila really enjoyed both of the trips but was really happy to get back home. They also enjoyed the trips they made to Salt Lake City with their friends Sid and Mary Tucker and the stops they made at Wendover, Nevada for the night.
Lila is survived by her husband Richard, sons Michael and David (Teresa), 2 grandchildren Coby and Wyatt, brother Ronald Miller and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by both her parents, sisters Louan Alan and Wanda Blosser and brother Bert Cleland.
