Iris Ann Calkins Slane Stone

Iris Ann Calkins Slane Stone, 95, passed away on June 11, 2024, in Pocatello, Idaho. Iris was born on March 1, 1929, in Firth, Idaho to Albert Horatio Calkins and Hannah Crossley. Her parents had 12 children, the first five of which lived, Evelyn, James (Bud), Wanda, Faye, and Iris. A brother, Joseph Orson Calkins, two twin brothers, and four sisters were born after her, and all died at or shortly before their births. 

She started the first grade in September 1935 at Bliss Elementary School in Bliss, Idaho. However, they moved to Hagerman, Idaho, before the end of her first-grade year, where she attended Hagerman Elementary School. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 2, 1940, in Hagerman, Idaho.

She graduated from the eighth grade in Hagerman, then she and her mom moved to Vancouver during World War II, where her mom and dad took jobs welding at the Kaiser Shipyards, where she also attended Shumway Junior High School in Vancouver, Washington, for one semester in the ninth grade.  

They moved back to Hagerman, where she continued to attend high school for three and a half years. She met her husband, Kenneth Neil Slane when she was 17, and they were married January 19, 1947, in Hagerman, Idaho. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple on January 9, 1981. 

She graduated from Hagerman High School in May 1947. Neil was going to school to become a schoolteacher, and they lived in many different places in Idaho, while Neil went to school, worked summers hauling logs, and eventually for the Forest Service, fighting fires. During those years that he was going to school and their many moves, they had five children, Kenneth Neil, Anna Marie, Patricia Kay, Anita Colleen, and Connie Cathleen Slane. 

They eventually ended up back in Hagerman, Idaho, where Neil took a position as a Reading Specialist until he was killed in a hunting accident, on October 5, 1968. The following year Iris moved with her children to Pocatello, so that she could attend Idaho State University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Education, with a Major in English and a Minor in Library Science in 1974. 

In November 1974, she met her second husband, John Stone, and they were married on January 15, 1975, in Pocatello. They had many happy years together traveling, attending many different temples, and spending time with family. They moved to Jerome, Idaho, in 1980 where she worked at the Tupperware plant, and due to a job transfer in 1987, they moved for three years to Hemmingway, South Carolina, where she retired from Tupperware, returning to Jerome, Idaho, in 1990. John passed away on June 16, 1994.

After his death, she continued working, for a few years preparing students for their GED tests through the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho, briefly as a medical aid at the Holley Home in Jerome, Idaho, and for several years until she was 80 years old, traveling around Southern Idaho taking surveys for the Food & Drug Administration, with Vista, a Federal Domestic Volunteer Agency.

Iris served a Family History mission from 1997 – 1998 in Salt Lake City with her sister Evelyn. She served from 2005 – 2008 working two days a week in the Boise Idaho Temple, and from 2008 - 2009 in the Twin Falls Idaho Temple. She served in many callings in the church, in the ward Relief Society as a teacher, counselor, and a president two different times, and several times as a ward and stake librarian. 

In 2013, she moved from her home in Jerome, Idaho to live in Taylorsville, Utah, for one year. Then she moved to Pocatello, Idaho in 2014, where she resided at Brookdale Assisted Living until her passing. 

All her life, she loved reading books, doing the daily crossword puzzle, and in her later years reading on her iPad and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She was very close to her 8 stepchildren and step-grandchildren and had kept in touch with them for many years, after the passing of their dad. She loved to go to church and attend the temple. She was a great cook and loved making yummy treats; she never passed up a dessert, popcorn, or a Diet Coke. She was talented at sewing and crocheting, and spent many hours crocheting afghans that she would give as gifts to those she loved. She had a great sense of humor, a quick wit, and a spunky personality and was loved and adored by all who met her. 

At her passing she was preceded in death by her first husband, Kenneth Neil Slane; and her second husband, John Ellis Stone; her parents, Albert and Hannah Calkins; her siblings, Evelyn Nieffenegger, James Calkins, Wanda Duncombe, Faye Tupper, Joseph Calkins; her six infant siblings; seven nephews; two nieces; two stepchildren, Lanny Dee Stone and Linda Susan Stone; three step-grandchildren, Jason Frederick Stone, Samuel John Stone and Hannah Joy Stone, 

She is survived by her son, Ken Slane (Benson, Arizona), Marie (Dennis) Rogers, (Pocatello, Idaho), Pati (Lance) Webber, (Westland, Michigan), Colleen Slane, (Tucson, Arizona), and Connie (Mark) Waldram, (Pocatello, Idaho); her stepchildren, Gary, Larry, Diane, Jim, Melody and Judy; 13 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; and 3 great-great grandchildren. 

The family would like to thank the staff at Brookdale Assisted Living in Pocatello, Idaho, for the many years of care they extended to Iris, and the medical staff at Portneuf Regional Medical Center, for their care in the final hours of her life. 

A viewing will be held for Iris, at 2:00 pm, Friday, June 21^, 2024, with the funeral to follow at 3:00 pm, at Farnsworth Mortuary, 1343 S Lincoln Ave, in Jerome, Idaho. Iris will be interned in Hagerman, Idaho in the Hagerman Cemetery on Monday, June 24^, 2024, in a private family service. 

Memories and condolences may be shared with the family on Iris’ memorial webpage at www.farnsworthmortuary.com.