Obituary of Charlotte Jane Plott

Charlotte Jane Plott, age 83, of Mesa, Arizona went to be with the Lord on October 7, 2021 at her residence surrounded by her family. Charlotte was born on February 1, 1938 in Buffalo, Wyoming, the daughter of Albert and Minnie (Stanley) Anxo. Charlotte and family moved to Miles City, Montana in 1952 and to St. Maries, Idaho in 1953 where she graduated from St. Maries High School in 1956. The family owned the Handy Corner restaurant and Charlotte was a waitress. On weekends, she would be working when her friends were on dates. This was the beginning of her strong work ethic. Charlotte attended the University of Idaho for one year, majoring in Home Economics before she married Ralph Papenfuhs on August 2, 1958. She was a legal secretary for prosecuting attorney, Dick McFadden before daughters Lisa and Yvonne were born in 1959 and 1960. Being an entrepreneur at heart, Charlotte became an “Avon Lady” and she would take her daughters on calls to customers’ homes. Later, Charlotte joined the Mary Kay organization. Charlotte was a secretary at the U.S. Forest Service for several years and later joined KeyTronics as an Administrative Assistant in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She married Jim Emerson on December 4, 1975. Daughter Yvonne introduced her to Creative Memories as a way to document her memories in photo albums. Charlotte began teaching classes on album-making in 1991 and it became her passion to assist others. Lisa and Yvonne also became consultants and the three would meet at the Creative Memories annual convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota each summer. Charlotte has enjoyed creating digital albums with Forever.com. Charlotte married Barry Plott on July 1, 2000 and they transferred with Boeing, Barry’s employer, to Mesa, Arizona. Charlotte’s greatest joy was to travel for family events in Redmond, Washington and East Lynn, Illinois. Charlotte and Barry would visit each daughter and family every other Christmas. Charlotte and Barry were excellent dancers and it was especially fun to watch them dance the Arizona Twostep together. Charlotte and Barry traveled together to many overseas locations including St. Etienne-de-Baigorry in the Basque Pyrenees, where her father was born. They organized a trip of a lifetime to Scotland with 19 members of the Ferguson family and a separate trip to Italy to learn about the Plott heritage. In 2019 a two week cruise was taken around the U.K. It was hosted by Hillsdale College and featured the life of Winston Churchill. In 2015-16, Charlotte interviewed entrepreneurs and created 73 podcasts on her Biz Stories Shared.com site. She was very much a “people person” and enjoyed helping others share their stories. Along with her spouse, Doyle (Barry) Plott, she is survived by daughters Lisa (Chris) Leigh of East Lynn, Illinois and Yvonne (Jon) Hayenga of Redmond, Washington; one brother, Allen (Sandra) Anxo of St. Maries, Idaho; six grandchildren, Cody (Heather) Moore, Alan (Lauren) and Bryce Leigh, Keaton (Breanne), Kristen and Karman Hayenga; two great grandchildren, Soren and Sebastian Moore and numerous nieces and nephews. Charlotte was preceded in death by her parents. Charlotte’s parish was the All Saints Catholic Church in Mesa, Arizona. She enjoyed many hobbies including sewing matching outfits for herself and her young daughters, water and snow skiing, hiking in the desert mountains; creating photo and digital albums and holding workshops for album-making friends. Most of all, Charlotte treasured her family and embraced every moment with them either in person or via technology. A celebration of Charlotte’s life will be held on Friday, October 15, 2021 at 11:00 am at the St Mary’s Immaculate Catholic Church in St. Maries, Idaho. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery, with a gathering of family and friends after burial at the Benedictine Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Jude’s at www.stjude.org or Pancreatic Research, PanCAN PurpleStride (April 30, 2022), Phoenix (general donation).