Idaho’s Greatest Love Stories

I'm a sucker for a good old fashioned love story. Here's the greatest love stories of Idaho. 

I must admit I've been a little sappy since hearing of the passing of Joey Feek yesterday. Joey & Rory had one of the greatest love stories I've ever heard. In 2001, Rory was a single Dad, raising two girls after his divorce from his first wife. One night he was performing at the infamous Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville when Joey stole his heart. She was sitting in the audience and he likes to tell people she was stalking him. The country duo married in 2002. You can read more of their love for each other in Rory's blog. Grab a box of tissues; it's one of the most beautiful stories of love I have ever heard. Everyone should be loved like Rory loved Joey. She loved him back and she let him know so beautifully through her song "When I'm Gone."

Both of my great-grandparents fell in love here in Idaho.

My Great-Grandpa Guy Cash Sr. was a championship rodeo man, riding bucking broncos for a living. My Great-Grandma Violet was working at a diner in Blackfoot, Idaho when they met. She was a single mom to a little boy named Jack, but that didn't stop my Grandpa from falling in love with her and taking in Jack as his own. They moved to Whitebird, Idaho after they wed and she followed him around to rodeos. They had two children together, my Grandpa Guy Jr. and a daughter Trieste who was killed in a car crash in Kuna in 1974.

My Grandma and Grandpa Willey lived in and around Grangeville, Idaho. Not many people knew it, but my Grandma Georgia briefly wed another man before she married my Grandpa. My Grandpa was her High School sweetheart and when she realized her first marriage wasn't right, she divorced him and ran back to my Grandpa Vern. They suffered through many hardships in life, including the loss of two sons, and their home in a fire, but their love held them together. When they were both in the Grangeville Care Center and Grandma was too weak to walk or even talk much, Grandpa danced with another elderly woman and that got her talking! She started making a fuss saying "Stop, that's MY man!" I always remember a great love between them.

Pat and Rosemary Powell of Boise also have an incredible love story. The couple met at the end of WWII on an Army camp in France. Pat was in charge of looking after 36 female officers one day when he fell for Rosemary at first sight. They didn't leave each other's side for the next three days and fell madly in love. A short time later the couple took a trip to Paris and Pat proposed to Rosemary two days into the trip. The couple has since passed on, but they lived here in Boise for many years (Rosemary lived in Boise all her life) and raised their three girls here. You can read more of their story HERE.

I'm not sure many love stories can top the tale between Ana Maria and Domingo Chavez of Caldwell. The couple was married for 55 years and died this past September holding hands, just hours apart. You can read more of their love story HERE.

Here's to finding true love in the Treasure Valley!