Barbara "Bobbie" Abbott

Barbara Marie Thompson Abbott, or as we all know her- Bobbie, was born in Norton, Kansas
on May 10th, 1940 to Ralph and Mae Thompson. Bobbie was the 5th of 6 children in the
Thompson family. In 1949, Ralph was led by God to move his family from Kansas to Idaho.
They packed the kids and all of their belongings into a sedan pulling a one-wheeled trailer and
headed West. They weren’t sure where the final destination would be, so they started exploring
Northern Idaho and worked their way down the State. Mae, being a great mother and
housewife realized that doing some “wash” was becoming imminent. She convinced Ralph to
stop in the next town to try and find a laundromat. The next little town was Weiser, Idaho. While
Mae did laundry, Ralph explored the small town, liked what he saw and decided to stay the
night. The very next day, he found a job with the Weiser School District and as they say, “the
rest is history”. Bobbie attended school from elementary to High School in Weiser and
graduated from Weiser High in 1958. Bobbie loved living in Weiser and fondly held the little
town it in her heart her whole life.
As a young woman, Bobbie worked a variety of jobs and ventured outside of Idaho living in
Nebraska, California and Oregon for short periods of time. Bobbie loved numbers and found
that book keeping was something she enjoyed and was quite good at. She could balance any
account down to the penny and she often helped friends and family balance their own
checkbooks. Bobbie eventually ended up back in Boise and planted some roots. In
October of 1969, Bobbie was blessed with the birth of her son, Kevin. He was the light of her
life and much to Kevin’s disliking, she referred to him as the “second greatest person to walk
the earth, next to Jesus Christ.” She was a good mother to Kevin and always had his best
interest in mind. She joined a Single Parent support group where she met Ken Abbott; a single
father of three little girls; Becky, Terri and Cindy. After a very brief courtship, Ken asked Bobbie
to marry him and her answer to him was “what took you so long?” In June of 1970, they
blended their families and very shortly after the marriage, Ken adopted Kevin. The 3 girls lived
for a short time with Ken, Bobbie and Kevin but spent most of their years living with their
mother. Bobbie was a stay home mom until the late 70’s when she entered the work force,
again in the accounting/book keeping world. Bobbie had a love of collecting!! She collected
everything from trivets, pigs, clown paraphernalia, and mini tea sets. She kept immaculate
records on her collections. She was an avid reader and had an amazing library full of
thousands of books. Bobbie was very gifted at playing the piano and occasionally was asked
to play at Church. Kevin was good friends with a boy whose grandfather was the legendary
Lawrence Welk. On one occasion Kevin’s family went to pick up Kevin’s friend and they had the
opportunity to meet Mr. Welk. Bobbie’s piano playing came up in conversation and Mr. Welk
asked her to play for him. It was a special moment in Bobbie’s life that she fondly shared with
others. Bobbie joined a Philanthropic Sorority; Epsilon Sigma Alpha and became quite
involved. She loved the Sorority and did everything from manning a fireworks booth to dressing
up as a clown to deliver Valentine’s Day singing grams. She also volunteered her time with Girl
Scouts of America (even though she didn’t have a daughter). Bobbie loved sending flowers to
her friends and family on their 50th birthday, because she felt living 1/2 a century was
something to celebrate!
Bobbie and Ken lived in Boise, briefly in Weiser and finally settled in a home they built in
Meridian in 1994. Bobbie loved their simple life of watching Western movies, game shows -
especially Jeopardy and doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles. Every evening Ken and Bobbie
sat down together and enjoyed a dish of their favorite treat, vanilla ice cream. To prove that
God has a sense of humor, inevitably every year in Ken and Bobbie’s backyard a family of
quail, ducks or sparrows decided to have their babies and proceed to enjoy every inch of the
yard including the patio. Bobbie had a intense phobia of birds. She often had to shut her back
blinds just to avoid seeing the non stop parade of feathers. Ken and Bobbie were blessed with
4 grandchildren; Chad and Christopher Kyle Tant and Sarah and Cody Abbott. Both Sarah and
Cody spent every afternoon after Kindergarten at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They grew to
know that every Wednesday was Western movie Wednesday and loved getting to help put
pieces in the jigsaw puzzles that were always on the table. In 2011, Bobbie lost her “Kenny”
from complications related to the Polio that he contracted as a young man. Bobbie continued
to live in her home until her family started noticing the signs of Alzheimers disease. The family
moved her into an Assisted Living facility in summer 2015. Spring Creek Assisted Living loved
Bobbie and offered her wonderful care. Bobbie declined quickly and in August of this year, was
moved to a Memory Care Facility. Within a month, Hospice was called in and barely over 2
weeks later, Bobbie was freed of this terrible disease and was able to go back to her Lord in
Heaven. Bobbie’s family would like to thank the Spring Creek Facilities, All Care Hospice and
especially Danielle Wallner for helping the last chapters of Bobbie’s life be filled with love,
laughs and the gift of dying with dignity.
Bobbie is survived by her son; Kevin (Shawna) Abbott, Step Daughters; Becky (Ron) Thomas,
Terri Scott and Cindy Hylton, 4 grandchildren; Chad Tant, Christopher Kyle Tant (Ashley), Sarah
Kiser (Trevor) and Cody Abbott. She also has one great grandchild, Melody Tant. She is
survived by her siblings; Frank (Fran) Thompson, Vanetta Stapleton, Martha (Noel) Vineyard,
Lonny (Hisako) Thompson and her brother- in-law Art (Gail) Abbott, sister-in-law Donna Abbott
and 27 nieces and nephews. Bobbie is preceded in death by her husband, Ken, her father
Ralph, mother Mae, brother Ray, brothers-in-law, Roy Stapleton and Paul and Cecil Abbott and
her niece, Susan.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be make to the Alzheimer’s Association: Greater Idaho Chapter
2995 N. Cole Rd. Suite 120 Boise, ID 83704 in Bobbie’s name.