Janet Margaret Firmage McPhie
(Obituary printed 11/22/2002 in the RocketMiner, Rock Springs, Wyoming)

CASPER — Janet Margaret Firmage McPhie, 82, died at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002, at the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper following a six-month illness with cancer.

Mrs. McPhie was born Sept. 26, 1920, in Rock Springs, the daughter of John William Firmage and Florence Cook, longtime residents of Rock Springs. She attended schools in Rock Springs and graduated from Rock Springs High School in 1938. She married Edward George McPhie on April 9, 1939, in Manila, Utah.

They made their first home in Rock Springs and later moved to Reliance where Mr. McPhie worked in the coal mine. Because of an accident in the mine, it became necessary for him to find another source of work and they later moved to Pinedale.

They lived in Pinedale where their two sons grew up and attended school.

Mrs. McPhie’s interests included cooking and taking care of her family. After Mr. McPhie suffered a heart attack, they moved to Boise, Idaho, to be close to his doctor. He died in Boise on Sept. 25, 1979, and she continued to make her home there.

She was employed at the Boise State College and at Harmon’s Travel Agency. Because of declining health, she moved to Casper in 1997 to be near her son, Gary Lee and wife Noreen and made her home with her grandson, Gary Alan McPhie.

Mrs. McPhie was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She is survived by her son, Gary Lee McPhie and wife Noreen of Casper; five grandchildren, Gary Alan of Casper, Kaylynn and Laurie Ann of Ogden, Utah, and Shawna K. and Timothy Edward of Albuquerque, N.M.; three great-grandchildren, Mikaela and Parker Todd Bingham and Matthew Child of Ogden; two sisters, Jean Van Valkenburg and husband Howard of Rock Springs and Ethel Bakka and husband August of Riverton; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; one son, Edward George McPhie Jr. who died Sept. 5, 2002, and his wife Paula; one sister, Esther Stevens Woodyat; and one nephew, Gerald Appelhans.

She will be laid to rest next to her husband in Pinedale. Graveside services will be conducted by her brother-in-law Howard Van Valkenburg at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002.