Jack Erwin Reese

Jack E. Reese, 71, of Caldwell passed away December 2, 2012 at home after a courageous battle with cancer. Jack was born May 29, 1941 in Skedee, Oklahoma to Thomas Edison and Ruby Nell (Klahr) Reese. In 1946 when Jack was five the family moved to Caldwell to be closer to Ruby’s family. Jack was soon joined by a sister, Wilma, and a brother, Tom, who was eight years to the day younger than Jack. The age gap between Jack and his siblings often put him in a care-taker role. If he wasn’t pulling his red wagon to the store to pick up a few necessities for his mother he might be toughening up his younger brother by making him eat a worm. Jack attended Caldwell schools, graduating from Caldwell High School in 1959. While he was in high school Jack worked on his uncle Chuck’s farm. His aunt Anna decided to do some match-making and arranged to have the neighbor’s daughter, Joyce LaRue, babysit their children. While Chuck and Anna were out for the evening Jack stopped by to “visit” the cousins. He must have been impressed by her babysitting style. Jack and Joyce began dating and were married April 7, 1960. They had two children, a son, Doug, and a daughter Debbie. Jack drove truck for many years. He started driving cattle truck with his dad, hauling cattle locally and to California. He also drove long haul for Northwest Agricultural Co-op Association (NACA) in Ontario, Oregon, IML located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and USF Reddaway of Boise, Idaho. Jack became close with several driving partners over the years, but his favorite was his son, Doug. Driving truck took Jack to all of the lower 48 states. Jack sold mutual funds with his mentor, Gene Baxter, for two years. This experience gave him valuable investment knowledge. Jack was able to convince his parents and his in-laws, a generation distrustful of the stock market, to invest in mutual funds. Those investments appreciated over time and eventually set them up financially for life. Jack managed those investments until his passing. Jack’s biggest ambition was to have a successful land and livestock operation. He farmed in the Enrose area before purchasing his own land in Sandhollow. Jack took a sad, unimproved farmstead and created a modern farming operation. He cut down trees and demolished old buildings, leveled fields and installed irrigation systems, and built a feedlot that could fatten 400 cattle. Sadly, the country’s economic woes worked against Jack, and eventually forced him to sell the farm. Jack retired from truck driving in 1997 and continued to take on challenging projects. He and his son Doug razed several old buildings on their home place and had the shop of his dreams built. The two also demolished the buildings on the LaRue farm, turning it back into farmland. Jack is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Joyce, his mother, Ruby Reese of Nampa, a sister, Wilma (Edd) Bowler of Boise, a brother, Tom (Annette) Reese of Nampa, a son, Doug of Caldwell, a daughter, Debbie (Mike) Moodie of Boise, two granddaughters, Brianne and Sara Moodie of Boise and several aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father. A special thank you to Dr. Pulver and his staff at St. Alphonsus Cancer Center in Caldwell for the abundant care and concern over the past several months and to Journey’s Hospice for the loving care Jack received the past weeks. A very special thanks to Gary Wagner for all the weekly visits over the past few years. Jack looked forward to your visit every week. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to First Baptist Church of Notus at P.O. Box 255, Notus, ID 83656, or a charity of your choice. A viewing will be held Thursday, December 6, 2012, 6:00PM to 8:00PM at Flahiff Funeral Chapel, Caldwell. A funeral service will be held Friday, December 7, 2012, 1:00PM at Flahiff Funeral Chapel, Caldwell. Interment will be at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. Condolences for the family may be left at www.flahifffuneralchapel.com. Service Information