CHUBBUCK — After 40 years of caring for other people’s children as if they were her own, beloved child care provider Tres Thorpe is finally taking a well-deserved rest.

For four decades, Thorpe has run Shooting Stars Daycare out of her Chubbuck home — a career that turned hundreds, maybe even thousands, of children and their families into her extended family.

She cared for little ones ranging from newborns to six-year-olds, often waking as early as 3 a.m. to accommodate parents working early shifts — and sometimes going years without taking a vacation.

Thorpe’s childcare journey began in her hometown of Inkom, where, as a teenager, she worked as a nanny. Newly married at 18, she started caring for children in a single trailer in Lava Hot Springs — charging just $1 an hour per child.

“I

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