Gene Willis Stoker

Gene Willis Stoker, 84, died Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at Boise Valley View nursing home, 19 months after suffering a stoke. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, September 29 at the Northview LDS Chapel, 6711 Northview in Boise. A viewing will be held at the church from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. prior to the services. Internment will be held at 1:00 p.m. at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, 10100 Horseshoe Bend Road in Boise followed by visitation with friends/family and a meal to be served by the Eleventh Ward Relief Society at the Northview LDS Chapel. Arrangements are being provided by the Zeyer Funeral Chapel, Nampa (208-467-7300).

Gene was born November 1, 1926 in Ogden, Utah to Leslie Willis and Annie Weston Stoker.  His family later moved to Roy, UT where he spent most of his formative years. He began his adult life in 1944, when he graduated from Weber High School located in Ogden, UT.  Shortly after his graduation he joined the Navy. During his service he was stationed on the USS Estess which was an amphibious force command ship. This ship was designed as a floating command post with advanced communications equipment. On the USS Estess he acquired his knowledge of communication that he later in life used in his family business, Idaho Communications.

In 1945, while on leave, Gene married the love of his life, Claire Monde Alder, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They were happily married for 66 years.

Gene’s naval services ended in 1946 at which point he began working with his father and brothers constructing bridges on government contracts. Later he worked for a local Boise business, Oakley Moody, after which he opened his own communication service business-Idaho Communications. Gene ran this family business for more than 30 years until it sold in 1991. Repairing two-way radios and communication equipment was his passion. He was also an original founder of Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue and had one of the first snowmobile dealerships in the state of Idaho. Gene also got his pilot’s license with over 1,000 hours of log time.

Friends and family will always remember how Gene would anticipate the change in season from fall to winter, which would bring the first fall of snow in the mountains. He loved to spend most of his time in the winter months in the high country where he could break trail and climb to the top of the ridge of a mountain on his latest version of snowmobile. Seeing him in a snowmobile suite and helmet was a familiar site to most that knew him. In the future, when a crisp coolness comes in the air, that always comes just before a snowfall, the thought of Gene Stoker on his snowmobile in the fresh snow will always come to our minds.

Gene is survived by his wife Claire A. Stoker; children: Chis (Gary) Bengochea, Kathy (Dave) Sibert, Art (Genel) Stoker, Doug (Samantha) Stoker and Robin S. Dunn; grandchildren: Tomosa Bengochea, Alicia Bengochea, Leah Bengochea, Levi Bengochea, Mondy Bengochea, Isaac Bengochea, Zane Bengochea, Beth Sandusky, Alli Sibert, Dustin Stoker, Ryan Stoker, Jesse Stoker, Brandon Stoker, Matthew Stoker, Tyson Stoker, Amy Cutter; great-grandchildren: Chandler Bengochea, Dominique Rasberry, Sabatian Bennigfield, Maisie Paquette, Lindsey Bengochea, Pete Bengochea, Maite Bengochea, Haddlee Bengochea, Shyloh Straitt, Abbalyne Cutter, Althia Cutter, Preston Stoker, Dallon Stoker; his siblings: Nell McKee, Joyce Jorgenson, Mary Christensen, Ann Inman, Leslie Stoker and Claude Stoker.