James
McDonald
passed away Sunday February 25th, 2018 at home. James
was born July 20th, 1946 in Beach, ND. His parents, Robert and Lucille
McDonald, had 3 children. James was born as the middle child, having Robert Jr.
and Patricia as his older and younger siblings. He grew up all over Montana,
moving quite a bit for his father to work at various farms across the state. Of
course, that meant he also helped with work at the farms at an early age. In
1960, his dad decided to pack up the family and move to Canada. His grandfather
had recently moved up there, and so his dad wanted to follow along. After being
in Canada for a bit, he got a job working at a saw mill. He was working there
when he met his life long partner Jeanette Larsen. Jeanette was roommates with
James sister Patricia, and she introduced the two of them together. They started
dating almost immediately. Not long after he proposed and the two of them were
married March 23rd, 1968 in Prince George, British Columbia. While in British
Columbia James and Jeanette had 3 children....Judy, James Jr. and Joseph. In
1971 James decided it was time to come back to the states. They had moved to
American Falls, Idaho and James started working at farms all over the area.
Around 1975 or 1976, he got a job at a farm in Blackfoot, ID and they moved the
family there. While in Blackfoot James and Jeanette had 2 more children, Jolene
and Justin. At this time James started working at American Potato in Blackfoot,
doing all the maintenance on their machines. While working there, he spent all
of his free time hauling wood from northern Idaho and selling it as firewood.
This is probably what got him into his love of working with wood. In 1989,
Jeanette got a job transfer with the phone company and they moved the family to
Boise, ID. James got a job working at Hoff Forest Products, also doing
maintenance for their machinery. He then started making all sorts of things out
of wood. You name it, and he would make it. James liked to get outdoors and do
various things. He was always out camping with the family on the weekends, or
just taking drives to different off the grid places to see the scenery. He was
constantly on his four wheeler, just out exploring the land.
James is preceded in death by
both of his parents Robert and Lucille McDonald, and his son James Jr. He is
survived by his wife Jeanette, his four children Judy, Joseph, Jolene, Justin
and also his 5 grandchildren. Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday March 9th, 2018 at
the LDS church at 3700 S. Maple Grove Rd. in Boise, ID.