Obituary: Degeus, John Tomlin
Age 68
John was born in the town of Payette, Idaho on September 22, 1945.
He was the first of three children of John A. and Cora DeGeus.
He spent the majority of his childhood in Spokane, WA., but his teens years were spent in Homedale where he graduated from Homedale High School.
John is survived by his wife of 39 years Jill , his daughter Lori Freund of Spokane, his two sisters Jane Girtz also of Spokane and Julie (Nathan) Brannon of Seattle, and his sisters and brothers-in-law as well as his many nieces and nephews and, of course, his dog and as John always said,” his best bud Norm.”
John always stated “start every day off with a smile, if nothing else, to get it out of the way.”
His great sense of humor carried all the way through to the end of his life.
John retired from Federated Stores after 30 years in retail manage-ment, a career which took him and Jill to Pittsburgh in which John became the biggest “Steelers” fan there was and had a room dedicated just to them.
From Pittsburgh it was onto Connecticut then back to Seattle, onto Spokane and thus retiring in Boise.
He worked at odd jobs in the area part time after retirement to keep him busy and where he had the great opportunity to make several new and wonderful friends.
John was reminded daily of how important it is to value those individuals who reached out and enriched his life.
John will be remembered in a service at Cloverdale Funeral Home, 1200 N. Cloverdale in Boise on August 19th at 2:00 pm.
There will be no graveside service.
In lieu of flowers, John’s wishes were for donations to be sent to the MSTI’s Pancreatic Cancer research (St.Luke’s), or to the Boise Humane Society.
A special thanks to Dr. William Traverso, Dr. Sylvan Bucur, Dr. William Bollinger and to the Oncology and Hospice Care staff of St. Luke’s Hospital.
Very special thanks to his Hospice nurse Rhea.
Most of all, John and Jill wanted to say a special and blessed thanks to all of their family and friends who were there to help him through the process of passing to a better, peaceful and pain free life.
“And when the seasons pass, I see you no more; I’ll not ask why or become dismayed, I’ll be content with what we shared, with what you gave.
Strengthened and free, your gifts have nourished me.
I’ve became a better person, I hope I left you the same, keeping your gifts forever free; they will remain gently within a special part of me.”
John your humor and tenaciousness will truly be missed but not forgotten.