Cory James French

Cory James French passed away April 26, 2021 surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Idaho Falls, ID May 30, 1972. He spent the first few years of his life living in Roberts getting spoiled by his grandparents. He lived in Ontario, OR and Boise, ID before moving to Shelley at the age of 5 where he lived until he married Rebecca Welker. They were married March 2, 1996 in the Idaho Falls Temple and lived in Coltman.

Cory and Becky lived in Coltman, Id. right next to Becky’s parents. They bought their own home and took care of each other. Becky absolutely loved Cory and did such a fantastic job caring and loving Cory. They often invited his brothers over for dinner and a movie. In 2014, Cory and Becky moved to Johnstown, Colorado. It was hard to let him go so far away, but we knew he was in good hands. In 2019, they moved back to Idaho to be closer to family. Due to circumstances out of their control, Cory came back to live with his mom and dad in Shelley. It was hard on Cory and Becky, but a tender mercy for our family as we could see him more frequently. They would FaceTime everyday and frequently visited each other on weekend or holidays. Becky was such a blessing as she cared for Cory for Over 23 years.

Growing up Cory played a lot of sports in City League, Special Olympics, and with the C.H.A.M.Ps team. He was famous for 3 point shots and even made it on the sports news several times. He was an avid sports fan and he never missed his brothers games unless he was playing himself. He could often be found running up and down the sidelines at the Shelley games cheering or dancing to the band music. His love of sports continued throughout his life. He knew everything there was to know about football, all the trades, who was on the injury list, what teams won the last week. And he was very good at predicting the winners. Just this year he won the football pool of the big company one of his brothers works for. He loved the Green Bay Packers and his brother was able to secure some tickets several years ago and took him to a Packers game in Wisconsin. He was able to go to a couple of Arizona Cardinals games and a Seahawks game. He also loved Karate and was obsessed with Bruce Lee and he watched all the Karate movies over and over. He took Karate when he was young and just recently he received his orange belt in Taekwondo.

Cory loved music and movies. He could tell you the name of the singer or group of almost any song that came on the radio. He loved Michael Jackson and loved to break dance. He won a couple of break dancing contests at Spud Day. Even when his health declined and he was on oxygen full time he would break dance every time he heard a Michael Jackson song. Every night he would spend an hour or two watching 80’s songs on youtube.

His biggest hobby was coloring. He colored many game folder books for the Humanitarian Center in Idaho Falls. The brighter the colors the better. I’m sure he made a lot of school kids happy when they got his game books.

He loved collecting movies and added to his collection weekly. He also loved socks and collected every size, color, and pattern he could find. When he wasn’t buying movies or socks he was collecting T-shirts.

He loved spending time with his family, playing games, riding in the Razor, going to movies and eating out. He adored all his nieces and nephews and there was nothing better than getting a big hug from their Uncle Cory. Cory was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and loved his Savior. Going to church, seeing everyone and giving hugs, and singing hymns was the highlight of his week. His constant laughter and presence lit up any room he was in. He was such a happy person that you couldn’t stay in a bad mood or keep from smiling and laughing when he was around. He was such a huge part of all the lives he touched and we will greatly miss all the hugs he gave so freely.

He is survived by his wife Rebecca French from Preston Idaho. Parents, Terry and Ebony French from Shelley, his brothers Adam French (Wendy) from Shelley, Cameron French (Emily) from Rigby, Spencer French (Charlene) from Highland, Utah and Logan French (Hannah) from Shelley, and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of his life will be April 30th at Nalder Funeral Home (110 West Oak, Shelley) from 5:00 to 7:30pm. Family will also meet with friends May 1st at Jameston Ward church (1101 E 1250 N, Shelley) from 10:00-10:45am. A funeral will start at 11:00am and can be viewed on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/92086494039. Burial will be at Shelley Hillcrest Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers please donate to Eastern Idaho Down Syndrome Group at
https://www.easternidahodownsyndrome.org/give/donate.html












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