Gerald Egbert

The world that Gerald Egbert was born into in 1931 is quite different from the world he left on Friday evening the twelfth of July 2024. He was born to Herschel and Eva Egbert in Ashton Idaho on January 7th 1931, the second of six children in a home that was filled with love but didn’t yet have indoor plumbing. (A time long enough ago that the doctor who came to deliver Gerald arrived on horseback. Herschel put the horse in the barn to ensure that the doctor would stay until the job was complete.)

He grew up on the family farm in the Ashton area where he learned to love growing things, working hard and cherishing the beautiful landscape around Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.

Mostly educated in Ashton, (except for one year the family spent in Idaho Falls), he ultimately graduated from North Fremont high school in 1949 where he lettered in boxing (undefeated through his high school career) and football.

He attended Ricks College briefly before serving a mission for the LDS church in the Southern States – an experience that he cherished, was formative for his future leadership skills and where he forged friendships that lasted a lifetime.

When he got back home, he attended BYU where he not only furthered his education but met his future wife, Donalea Johnson from the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. Most of their courtship was long distance, because after a semester at BYU he was drafted into the US Army. They married in December 1954; then he served in Germany for most of the first year of their marriage.

Following his military service (where he not only served honorably but also, of course, formed friendships that lasted a lifetime) he returned to Idaho where he settled to farm and to raise a family.

An active member of the LDS church, he served capably and gratefully in many leadership capacities including being the first bishop of the Ashton Third Ward.

He was on the board of Fall River Electric for seventeen years, several of those years serving also on the board of Northwest Public Power. During that time he and Donalea traveled widely which they enjoyed. They also enjoyed frequent trips to Mexico to visit family and friends (though the food never quite agreed with him).

After a career in farming, he spent twelve years in Boise where he worked for Mutual of New York selling life insurance and as always making many friends.

After retirement, he and Donalea served a mission in Nauvoo, Illinois where they were the caretakers of the Carthage Jail, a responsibility that was both satisfying and sacred to them both. A true people person, he loved to meet and get to know people – whether through work, neighborliness, church responsibilities, or just standing in line at the store.

In retirement he spent time doing what he loved – visiting and nurturing family, woodworking and growing a magnificent garden (who else gets tomatoes in June in Ashton?)

His family has always been the greatest joy in his life – he and Donalea raised ten children and worked together farming in the beloved area where he has spent most of his life. While what they raised may have been potatoes, alfalfa, barley and Angus cattle, the most important thing they raised was first and always a family. Consequently, their children learned to love their parents, each other, hard work, and the beautiful Snake River valley.

He was preceded in death by his parents Herschel and Eva, and his five siblings, Pauline, Doyle, Deanie, Ireta and Don.

He is survived by his loving and beloved wife Donalea, his ten children Pamela (Shane), Janice (Paul), David (Karen), Bill (Maren), John (Kristi), Kathy, Bruce (Amber), Robert (Leslie), Frank (Jeri) and Dona (Brian), fifty-three grandchildren and forty-four great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 18, at the Ashton LDS Stake Center. The family will receive friends Wednesday evening from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m., both times at the stake center. Interment will be in the Pineview Cemetery with military honors by the American Legion and Idaho Honor Guard.