Aids Victim Dies; Idaho Toll Up To 171

As of the end of March, AIDS had claimed 170 lives in Idaho since the first case was reported 10 years ago. Last weekend, Chuck Hockaday, 48, became the 171st victim.

He died in a Salt Lake City hospital of complications from the disease.

Jean Stark, state HIV-AIDS coordinator, said 14 new AIDS cases have been reported so far this year, compared with 16 cases in the first three months of 1994.

As of last June, 421 people in Idaho had either tested positive for AIDS or have the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at that point, there were just over 400,000 cases of AIDS nationwide.

When Hockaday moved to McCammon with his companion, Michael Christensen, 39, 18 months ago, the men didn’t know what to expect in a Bannock County farming town of 722.

But if Christensen and Hockaday’s presence as a gay couple in the community bothered anyone, no one said much about it to them.

They both had AIDS and the disease was foremost in their minds, a part of their every breathing day.

They operated a 24-hour AIDS hotline and worked closely with the Southeast Idaho AIDS Coalition. They ran support groups. They talked to civic, community and school groups, and made TV appearances.