Carmen J. Bledsoe

Carmen Janice Bull Bergen Hogan Bledsoe, of Boise, ID left this world to be with her Lord on November 12, 2019. Having lived to the ripe, old age of 91, she has gone to join many friends and loved ones on the other side. She is preceded in death by her beloved, little boy and angel, Ricky, her husband and father to her children, Albert Henry Bergen, her second husband, Walter Eugene Hogan and her last spouse, Cecil Verne Bledsoe. She liked to say she was hard on husbands because she had buried three of them.

True to her nature, Carmen left her children detailed instructions about how her memorial service and burial should be handled. Carmen liked things her way.  Too bad we can’t read her writing and thankfully we do have a pretty good idea of what she wanted.   

She was very proud of three main accomplishments in life. First, the fact that she raised four children to be relatively responsible adults. Second, that she had achieved her private pilots license in 1970. And third, at 87, she had written a book of the Bull-Chaffee family history, in which she related many of her fondest memories as well as the most heartbreaking moments of her life. She was fiercely private and very discerning about who she allowed to read her book. If she shared the book with you, consider yourself one of the chosen few.

Carmen spent most of her life as wife and mother and was very creative in the domestic arts. She loved to cook and try out new recipes on her unsuspecting family and guests. Usually they were delicious. To this day, many of our family traditions, include special foods that Carmen created.  Having been raised in the lush, Green River Valley near Auburn, WA, she was busy throughout the summer and into harvest season, freezing, canning and making her famous jams, jellies and pickled vegetables. She was an accomplished seamstress, crafting clothes for herself and her children. She loved to garden and rarely failed to recount the names of crops, trees and flowers. She had a vegetable garden until she no longer had the land to plant it in.

Carmen is survived by four of her five children, Charlene & Larry Snyder of Valley, WA, Cindi Bergen of Boise, ID, Curt & Sheree Bergen of Shelley, ID and Celeste & Chris Francis of Phoenix, AZ.  She was blessed with four  grandchildren , Tom & Shelby Bergen of Firth, ID, Eric Bergen of San Francisco, CA, Dianne & Tom Hill of Spokane, WA and Devan Bergen-Hartigan, Boise, ID and four great grandchildren, Jordyn Thoen of Hillsboro, OR, McKenna Hill of Spokane, WA , Chezney and Bridger Bergen of Firth, ID.

Services will be held at Alsip & Persons Funeral Chapel, 404 - 10th Avenue South, Nampa, ID on  Friday,  November  22, 2019 at 1:00 PM with a reception following.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Idaho Youth Ranch or the Marsing Church of the Nazarene.

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