Constance Vernette Ostolasa

Constance Vernette Smith was born April 14, 1924 in Cottage Grove, Oregon, making Vern and Edith Smith parents for the first and only time. She grew up in Springfield, Oregon, graduating from University High School in 1942 and attending two years at the University of Oregon.
Connie worked at a filter center in Eugene as a telephone operator and this is where she met Anastacio Ostolasa. Anastacio was in the Army Air Corp and was transferred to Fresno waiting orders to be shipped overseas. Connie and family traveled to Fresno so they could be married before he left for duty overseas. This was September 9, 1944.
Connie went back to Eugene to be close to her family. While in Eugene their first son was born in June 1945. Anastacio returned home and was honorably discharged from the Army. When their son was 6 months old, they moved to a large ranch in Idaho belonging to the Parsons, now what’s called Hidden Springs. They were blessed with 2 more sons while at Dry Creek.While continuing her education at Boise State University, she also worked for Mountain Bell Telephone Co.
Connie was the first female engineer in the State of Idaho. She helped design the microwave station between Boise and Idaho Falls. She traveled extensively for the phone company. If there was a phone company in a town, she was there. She was in every state only missing 3, North and South Dakota and Oklahoma. She retired from Pacific and Mountain Bell Telephone Companies in 1983 as a radio engineer. After 30 years of working she looked forward to enjoying her favorite hobbies, fishing, making porcelain dolls, collecting Barbie dolls, gardening, sculpting, oil painting, riding horseback and spending time with family.
Connie was now able to travel to many destinations including, Spain, Hawaii, South Africa, Tahiti, Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, France and many more.
Connie lived on the Ranch, Dry Creek, for 67 years. In 2016 Connie went to live with her granddaughter.
She is preceded in death by her mom and dad, Vern and Edith Smith and Anastacio Ostolasa who died in 1996.
She is survived by her sons, David (Jamie), Robert (Denise), and Jon, and grandchildren, Annie Ostolasa-James and Kelvin James, Danielle and Jon Mendiola, Angela Ostolasa, and Courtney and Justin Stewart, as well as 7 great grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.
Memorial contributions may be made to either the Dry Creek Historical Society or the Basque Museum.