Dr. Darrell W. Brock

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Dr. Darrell W. Brock

Dr. Darrell W. Brock, 88, went to be with his Lord and Savior on September 29, 2015. He was born January 25, 1927 in Rupert, Idaho to George and Maude Brock. Growing up on the family farm, he enjoyed many adventures with his three siblings. While attending Rupert High School, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps where he became certified to become a bomber. By the time he graduated from high school, the War had ended so he did not have the opportunity to serve in this capacity. At the time of his discharge from the Army Air Corps, he was crew chief of a B-29.

Darrell graduated from the University of Idaho and then completed his Master’s Degree at the University of Michigan. After his studies, he chose to work for the Idaho Department of Health and was assigned to the TB hospital in Gooding, Idaho. It is there that he met his beautiful bride, Dorothy Diehl. The couple was married in Jerome, Idaho December 8, 1957 and within the next few years welcomed their three children into this world: Cathy, Bill, and Tim.

Darrell worked at the TB hospital before taking the position of assistant lab director at the State Laboratory. Always ready for a new challenge, and desiring to be the best at whatever he did, Darrell decided obtaining his doctorate would be the best course of action to take to further advance his career. Darrell packed up his family and headed across the country to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he obtained his doctorate before returning home and being appointed to director of the Idaho Health Laboratory, a job he loved and which challenged him for twenty years.

After “retirement” Darrell moved to Tacoma, Washington. He was there less than a month before being hired as the director of the Washington State Public Health Laboratory in Seattle. He held this job for two years before he and Dorothy returned to their acreage in Meridian, Idaho.

One of Darrell’s passions was singing, and he sang in the choir at the Cathedral of the Rockies for many years. He dedicated himself to community service, holding many state and local offices and was past president of the National Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Darrell was the author/co-author of eleven scholastic papers which were published in both medical and scientific journals. He worked collaboratively with scientists at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana.

Darrell was particularly proud of his accomplishment in working to develop the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho. He fondly recalled sitting with the group discussing the logistics of the fund when one of the members stated that the reserve fund may some day contain as much as a billion dollars. Darrell stated he and the other members could barely suppress a chuckle. Today there is more than ten billion dollars in the PERSI reserve fund.

When not working in the laboratory, one of Darrell’s passions was working with racehorses. He loved breeding, training, and racing thoroughbreds. The Brock family raced horses for 25 years. He was particularly proud of his last horse, a third generation home bred who raced at Portland Meadows. She won two back to back races before hurting her knee and retiring from racing. They owned several thoroughbreds that raced at Les Bois Park, where they were trained by his sons and groomed by his daughter. His grandsons’ earliest memories were going to the race track in the mornings to care for the horses and then out for breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa. Darrell and Dorothy’s horses ran and won races in Boise, Billings, Seattle, Portland and Spokane.

Darrell was also an avid reader and you could always find a book in his hand. He knew right away if he didn’t like a book and would ask for it to please be removed. He belonged to the literary society “poker group” and looked forward every month to meeting with his group of friends to talk about politics, current events, life, and to share laughs.

Darrell is survived by his daughter, Catherine (Randy) Brown; son, Bill (Deanna) Brock; son Tim (Linda) Brock; his grandchildren; Jake, Eric, Beau, Chris and Tyler; and numerous great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy, his parents, and three siblings.

A memorial service will be held at Alden-Waggoner Funeral Chapel at 5400 Fairview Avenue in Boise, Idaho on October 7, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests you honor Darrell’s commitment to making sure that children do not have to live in hunger by making donations to the Idaho Food Bank.

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