Connie (Goicoechea) Nice

Constance I. Goicoechea Hubsmith Nice, better known as Connie Nice, transitioned from this life on Saturday, August 3, 2024.  Connie was born the second child of a growing Basque family on May 4, 1948, to Rupert and Clara Pagay Goicoechea at St. Valentine Hospital in Wendell, Idaho.  Connie’s family moved from Gooding, Idaho, to Richfield, Idaho, to the Eusebio and Jesse Anchustegui Sheep Ranch when she was five years old.  Connie would be a part of the Richfield Community for the rest of her life.  Life in those days was different.  Open range was truly a regular part of life.  Crater and Dietrich Buttes were not fenced.  Cattle watered in Little Wood River at “water cuts.” The only fences surrounded the farms to hold out the range cattle and sheep.  Union Pacific Railroad maintained lines from Shoshone to the section town of Richfield where the tracks split for destinations to Hill City, Idaho, and Ketchum, Idaho.  Milk was sold in ten gallon cans.

Connie grew up milking cows, herding cows, rolling bales, chopping thistles, swimming in Little Wood River, riding horses and generally getting into mischief with her siblings.  Connie attended Shoshone schools until the eighth grade when her family moved three miles into the Marley Valley area.  As a teenager, Connie was proud to have been selected as an Outlaw Day Rodeo Queen.  Connie graduated from Richfield High School in 1967.  On September 3, 1967, Connie married Ray E. Hubsmith in Elko, Nevada.  They were married until Connie and Ray were involved in a train collision in front of his parents’ home in January, 1976.  Ray died a week later in February, 1976.  As a result, Connie raised two, beautiful daughters with the help and support of the Richfield Community, Irene Renae and Michelle Rae.  Connie milked cows for the Tim Sanders/Mont Johnson Dairy, hauled livestock in a small truck, worked at the Shoshone Sale Yard, and for many years was employed in the potato processing industry.  Connie married Kenneth Glen Nice at Richfield, Idaho.  Ken preceded Connie in death in April, 2011.  Connie remained in her home in Richfield until a fall, and related injury, made living alone no longer feasible.  She has resided at Ashley Manor in Jerome, Idaho, for the last six years.

Connie was known to be an independent soul and lived life to the cadence of her unique melody.  Over the years, she was a member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Shoshone and St. Russell’s Catholic Church in Richfield.  She was a past member of the Richfield Grange, Richfield PTA, and proud to have earned her twenty year chip of sobriety from Alcoholics Anonymous.

Connie was preceded in death by her parents, Rupert and Clara Pagay Goicoechea, husbands, Ray Hubsmith and Ken Nice, brother, Richard Goicoechea (Cathy),  sister, Marie Buttcane (Charles), her in-laws, Fred and Irene Hubsmith, brother-in-law, Jack Hubsmith, sisters-in-law, Fern Coates (Burl) and Marjorie Stevens and a host of family and friends.

Connie is survived by her daughters, Irene Renae Call (Holbrook) and Michelle Rae Irish (Rocky), brothers, Roger and Ronnie Goicoechea, Twelve grandchildren, Hawk (Zoe), Hunter (Julie), Brooke (Andrew Spyhalski), Forest, and Reed Call; Carissa (Anthony Ojeda), William, and Benett Richards; Brayden (Olivia), Raely (Robert Evans), Cyla, and Waycee Irish; and five great grandchildren.  She is also survived by brother-in-law, Earl Hubsmith (Vickie), sisters-in-law, Sharon McGaughey (Jim) and Faye Hubsmith (Jack) and a multitude of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Thank you to all of those that have helped, and supported, Connie through the years.

Graveside services are Monday, August 12, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at the Richfield Cemetery, Richfield, Idaho, with a reception at the Richfield City Park following the services.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Demaray Funeral Service - Shoshone Chapel.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Connie (Goicoechea) Nice, please visit our floral store.