Janet Thurston Mcmahan
Janet Thurston Mcmahan
Janet McMahan passed away
peacefully at her Boise home on October
14, 2012 with her
children and sister at her side. She was
81 years old.
Janet Frances Thurston was born
January 2, 1931 in Denver, Colorado to Dr. Alvin S. Thurston and Mary Planert
Thurston. Her father was completing a
medical residency in that city prior to settling in Council, Idaho, where he
was the sole practicing physician for many years. Her parents placed a high value on quality
education, and because of that, sent Jan to complete secondary school at Boise
High School, and then to Stanford University, where she received a Bachelor’s
degree in Biology in 1952. She then worked in San Francisco as a medical
technician for several years.
Jan married Donald McMahan on November
24, 1956 in McCall, Idaho. His family
operated a ranch in Fruitvale, and the McMahans and McDowells were among the pioneers who settled Council,
Fruitvale and Indian Valley in the 1800s.
After marriage, Jan and Don lived in San Francisco but returned to live
in Fruitvale in 1958 after the birth of the first of their four children. They raised cattle and lived the ranch and
farm life for the next decade in the Council valley, then moved to McCall in
1968 to take ownership of the Payette Lakes Star and the Cascade News, which
they later combined into the Star-News.
They lived and breathed the newspaper business and a title insurance
concern for the next 14 years before retiring to Riggins.
Jan and Don loved their retirement
life together, which they divided between their home on the Salmon River and
their snowbird haven in Yuma, Arizona, along with frequent fishing trips to the
Oregon and Washington coasts and visits to their children and grandchildren in
California and elsewhere. After Don
suffered a debilitating stroke in 2004, they gave up travelling to live
full-time in Riggins, and Jan continued to live there alone after her husband’s
death in 2007. With her health in
decline, she reluctantly agreed to move to Boise in 2011 to share a home with her
eldest son.
Jan loved the outdoors and
especially enjoyed the natural beauty of Idaho’s mountains, lakes and
rivers. Even with the demands of running
two businesses and a busy household in McCall, the family always found time to
take camping trips into the back country and to enjoy skiing at Brundage and
the Little Hill. She treasured spending
time with family and close friends and she placed a high value on the
characteristics of self-reliance, loyalty and independent thinking.
Jan is survived by her sister,
Sally Clark of Boise, son Kevin McMahan, also of Boise, daughter Kerrin McMahan
of Los Angeles, son Scott (Janie) McMahan of Nordland, Washington, and four
grandchildren. She was preceded in death
by her son Jonathan in 1982 and her husband Donald in 2007.
A memorial service will be held at
10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 18, at the Alden-Waggoner Funeral Chapel, 5400
Fairview Avenue in Boise.
Private
interment will take place at the Council cemetery.
The family suggests that in lieu of flowers,
donations be made in her name to the City of Riggins ambulance fund.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Janet Thurston Mcmahan, please visit our flower store.
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