Obituary: O’Driscoll, John
Age 63
He was the son of Dick and Lary Driscoll of Moscow, Idaho and was raised in Moscow.
He attended St. Mary’s Academy, K through eight, and then Moscow High School, from which he graduated in 1968.
He was an outstanding and spirited football player and named an Idaho all-state player in 1967.
He attended the University of Idaho for several years and was a devoted member of the Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity.
He married Billye Kearns in 1972, and together they had two daughters, Erin and Megan, who were likewise raised in Moscow.
He worked many years with his father, Dick, at the family owned business in Troy, the Idaho Bean and Elevator Company.
After Dick’s retirement, John continued conducting the business until its sale in 1990.
After this he moved to San Francisco, where he worked in trading commodities similar to those he had dealt with at the Idaho Bean.
He lived in San Francisco for some ten years, during which time he became a devoted fan of the city’s football team, the 49ers, and of its baseball team, the Giants.
But John always kept a property in Moscow, the town that was his first and last love.
He returned definitively to Moscow in 2003 and, taking advantage of the new possibilities that computer technology permitted in trading commodities, he re-established the Idaho Bean and Elevator Company, working now from his house.
He kept a lively contact with local farmers and followed closely the family farms on Driscoll Ridge outside of Troy and in south Idaho near Filer.
From Moscow he traveled frequently to San Francisco for 49ers and Giants games, managing even a last game during the time of the illness that eventually took his life.
John loved the lifestyle of Moscow and was an exceptionally good-natured, much appreciated neighbor, eager to help anyone in need, always ready for a friendly visit with either acquaintances or strangers.
On game days, he displayed the Idaho Vandal flag from his red brick house on the corner of A and Polk Streets, and displayed a variety of other flags for other occasions.
For years a plastic white goose night light shone from a small window at the top of his house, a congenial whimsy signaling his life’s habit of keeping active a light and comic side of things.
When John turned 50, he legally changed his last name from Driscoll to O’Driscoll, taking this to be a more original form of the Driscoll name.
Though he encouraged other family members to follow his lead in this, no one did; and all seemed to regard this with affection as another of his typical whimsies.
John also very much loved Priest Lake, where he and his family had vacationed every summer from his earliest youth.
One of his greatest joys was when he was able to purchase property there and build a small house, where he passed much time both summer and winter.
He continued his same pattern of amiable encounters with others all along the lake shore.
Nothing pleased him more than people happily passing time together in a beautiful place.
He is survived by his mother, Lary, of Honolulu; by his brother, Jeremy, a monk and priest at Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon; by his sister, Marti Lee, of Honolulu; by his daughters Erin Diedrick and Megan Driscoll of Spokane; by his grandsons Ryan and Braden Diedrick; and by Billye Driscoll, his former wife and mother of his children.
He is also survived by an abundance of friends and neighbors who, together with his family, will miss him immensely and will always treasure their time with him.
In his last will and testament he wrote, “It is my hope and wish for members of my family as well as my extended group of friends to carry on my love for the Idaho Vandals, San Francisco 49ers, and San Francisco Giants and ask that they, while under no obligation, legal or otherwise, to paint the Idaho Vandal sign each year in front of my residence in Moscow, Idaho as the law permits… or otherwise.
I also ask them to continue to love and support the Vandals and 49ers as I have, and to celebrate at Vandal tailgate parties as if I’m still there because I will be.
Vandals, ‘Niners and Giants forever.”
A rosary will be recited at 7:00 PM Friday, December 20, 2013 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Moscow.
The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at the church by his brother, Rev.
Jeremy Driscoll.
A reception will follow at Schierman’s Event Center, 3225 Robinson Park Road, Moscow.
Arrangements have been entrusted to SHORT’S FUNERAL CHAPEL, Moscow, and online condolences may be sent to www.shortsfuneralchapel.net.