Jake Dodge Generous, Hard-Working Family Man

Jake Dodge built his own memorials.

Friends and family see his life’s work in the affordable homes of Harmony Place, the memories of exotic trips and fishing expeditions - and the incredible amount of effort he put into everything he did.

“Everywhere we look, we run into things that are his,” said Dodge’s 30-year-old son, David. “That’s kind of hard, but it’s kind of neat, too.”

Dodge, 58, died on Thanksgiving Day when his tractor fell over an embankment as he was trimming trees on his property on Riverview Drive. David found him.

The family is still adjusting to his loss.

Barbara Dodge, Jake’s wife of 35 years, is still too shaken to speak of her husband publicly.

“We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye or anything,” David Dodge said. “We just keep thinking he’s going to come back any day.”

His father put in long hours at the construction businesses he owned, but worked just as hard taking his wife and three kids on trips to Thailand, Japan, Italy and Israel.

He was also a prominent member of the local community, serving on various boards and commissions.

Born in Pinehurst to missionary evangelists, Dodge spent his childhood traveling with 10 siblings to far-flung hometowns in places ranging from Texas and Oregon to Maui, where he spent first grade.

He served two years stationed at Yuma, Ariz., and San Antonio, Texas, in the Army during the Vietnam era.

Then Jake Dodge went to work.

First, he returned to a job at General Electric in Seattle. Then in 1969 he moved his family to Coeur d’Alene and took a job with Hunt Brothers Construction, working concrete construction and building homes. Twenty years ago, Dodge bought Norm’s Utility Contractor, a pipe-laying business.

But his favorite line of work came through his own company, Jireh Investment and Development Co.

Dodge earned a reputation for a combining of generosity and business sense. A major local developer, his subdivisions include Singing Hills in Post Falls and Deerfield in Rathdrum along with more recent commercial development deals that include the Hot Rod Cafe.

Clad in jeans - “nice jeans” - Dodge could talk to anyone on a construction site, said John Johnson, a local builder who worked frequently with Jireh.

“He was quite rare in that he was very much a hands-on person,” said Johnson, office manager at Crescent Homes. “One of his goals was providing houses for people. Just regular people, not necessarily the rich. He was good for that.”

Something of a workaholic, Dodge also went out of his way to make time for his wife and children, family members say. His son, David, remembers his father working a long day, then taking the kids on a weekend fishing trip. They drove 800 miles, then took a float plane to a remote lake, then made the long trip home.

Jake Dodge was deeply religious. He attended Pleasant View Church and First Assembly of God Church. He named his development company after a Hebrew word that means “God is our provider”.

“The Bible says God’s given each man 70 years. It seems like he worked 70 years into 58,” his son said.