Tributes: Bob Courchaine was a ‘good citizen,’ father

If you have any curiosity about Spokane Valley history, then the name Courchaine should be noted. Like early settlers Steve Liberty (formerly Etienne Edward Laliberte) and William Newman, the Courchaines were Valley pioneers.

While no lake carries the Courchaine name, the family does have a permanent plaque south of Linke Road and 34th Avenue. It reads: “Daniel Courchaine Born 1837 Winnipeg Man. Canada Died 1897 Came to Green Bay Wisconsin 1860 Then to Spokane Wash. Territory 1866 Purchased this land from Indians 1867 George Courchaine Born 1886 in this house where he still lives as of Oct. 1967 Died 1979.”

Bob Courchaine, a third-generation Valley son who was born in 1918, died on June 30.

Courchaine attended a one-room schoolhouse on Saltese Road and then went to Central Valley High School where he was president of Future Farmers of America. He was also captain of the football team, and was nicknamed “Wild Cat.”

In Courchaine’s 1938 senior yearbook he was dubbed the “loudest talker” and under the heading “Can You Imagine…” the sentence was finished with “Bob Courchaine crocheting?”

Courchaine was born a farmer; it was in his blood. No time for crocheting, he was used to hard work. He milked cows before school and even missed a few quarters of school to tend to business. During the war years, Courchaine stayed home under an occupational deferment and oversaw the herd at Early Dawn Dairy in Veradale.

In 1942, Courchaine married Helen Johnson and six years later they bought a farm north of Otis Orchards on Harvard Road. Their four sons, Ken, Clint, Steve and Stan Courchaine, still farm and run the dairy. They all agreed that they got their independent streak from their father as well as a good work ethic.

Jim McLachlan, a track and cross country coach at West Valley High School, grew up in Otis Orchards and was in the same East Valley High School class as Steve Courchaine. “I knew Bob all my life and spent a lot of time on the farm when I was young,” he said, “I remember staying there when I was 6 or 7, waking up in the dark.

“From the window I’d see lights bobbing toward the barn. It was Bob getting to work. That was a dairy farmer’s life. He worked hard. He did what he had to do.”

Courchaine supplemented the family’s income by driving an East Valley school bus for 15 years.

“He always made everyone feel special,” said Ken Courchaine’s wife, Marie. “He’d look you in the eye. He had a beautiful smile and twinkling eyes.

“At Christmastime, he’d disappear when the kids sang carols. Then we’d hear bells ringing by the barn and there was Santa. He’d leave candy and oranges by the front door.”

Marie Courchaine, a teacher, would bring her students to the farm for field trips, and her father-in-law would pass out ice cream and tell stories.

“He remembered when the Indians would stop at the Courchaine ranch for water and hay,” Steve Courchaine said.

Little’s of greater importance to a dairyman than hay. But Ken Courchaine said his father would leave his own haying to help neighbors with theirs. And Steve Courchaine recalled when the rain threatened the hay, his father would remain unfazed and say, “There’s nothing we can do.”

“He took things in stride,” Ken Courchaine said..

Courchaine’s sons use phrases like “quiet but tough,” “a good citizen” and “worthy of respect” to describe their father, and said he didn’t think a person had to go to church to believe: “he worshipped with the cows.”

Courchaine enjoyed dancing and traveling with Helen, and attending sporting events. He did his best to attend all of his boys’ and grandkids’ games.

In addition to his wife and sons, Courchaine is survived by nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The grandchildren learned from him to shovel and scrape, drive a truck, milk the cows and feed the calves, work hard and be kind.

“Once when we were out, he found a wounded doe,” said grandson Geoff Courchaine. “He put it in the horse trailer and tried to save it.”

To Courchaine’s granddaughter, Kari Rockom, he was reminiscent of two stars of his generation.

“He reminded me of a mix between Bob Hope and John Wayne,” said Rockom, adding that his qualities were something she looked for in a man. “I wouldn’t accept anything less.”