Gene William Speas

Gene William Speas, 85, of Blackfoot, Idaho, passed away Monday, June 3, 2013 at Bingham Memorial Hospital from natural causes.

Gene was born November 4, 1927, in Woodville, Idaho, to William Edwin and Violet Elvira (Hammer) Speas.

He was raised on a farm during his childhood and was always around animals and learned to love them, especially “little animals.”

His brother, George, passed away shortly after birth.  He also has five sisters Eunice Barnard, Lena Clark (who was killed in a car accident in 1991) and her twin, Lenis Kirkbride, Billie Jo Clapp, and Thora Norman.

He went to grade school and a few years of high school in Shelley and has always been an avid reader.  A little later he joined the U.S. Navy Seabees and served in the Philippines during World War II.  A while after he was discharged from the Navy, he served a mission for the LDS Church in Arizona among the Navajo and Hopi Indians.

He married Shirley Cook of Shelley, Idaho, on June 23, 1966, in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.

He worked on a chinchilla farm for a while before he was married and then worked for several years as a security guard at the Atomic Energy Site and then as a security guard for American Potato Company before he retired.

He is survived by his wife, Shirley; his children, Delonas Dawn “Dee Dee” (David) Peck, Michelle Mae Speas, Korina Kae (Scott) Wood, Herbert Henry (Kameka) Speas, George Gene (Misty) Speas, Sherrie Sue (Ryan) Powell, Larissa Lei (G.W.) Summers, Vanae Vi (Aaron) Turner, and 24 grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his parents; one brother George; one sister Lena; and his son William Wayne.

Funeral services will be held 11:00 A.M. Saturday, June 8, 2013 at Wapello 1

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Ward Chapel (337 North 200 East). The family will meet with friends Friday evening 7:00 till 8:30 P.M. at Nalder Funeral Home (110 West Oak) in Shelley and Saturday 9:30 till 10:40 A.M. at the church. Burial will be in the Shelley Hillcrest Cemetery with military rites by David B. Bleak Post 93 and the Idaho Honor Guard.