Hayden Lake native Gerald “Gerry” House, 73, died at the North Idaho Hospice House on June 30, 2012, after a courageous six-year battle with multiple myeloma.

A 37-year employee of the U.S. Forest Service, he retired from that agency in May 1994 after serving 17 years as planner for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. A previous assignment included three years as a member of the Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General, a job that took him to every state in the Lower 48. He also had professional assignments with the agency in Montana and Washington state.

He began his Forest Service career as a seasonal employee and soon became a journeyman timber cruiser, responsible for the sale of more than one-half billion board feet of timber on four national forests and five ranger districts.

Gerry graduated from Hayden Elementary School and Coeur d’Alene High and was the first Eagle Scout in Hayden Lake before attending the University of Idaho from which he graduated in 1963 with a forestry degree.

He was a fourth-generation resident of Hayden Lake whose great-grandparents on both sides of his family were among the first settlers of the area. He was preceded in death by his parents, Mark and Mae Steele House. Both his father and one grandfather also worked for the Forest Service, and both grandfathers fought the 1910 fire which ravaged 3 million acres in North Idaho, Washington and Montana. His mother was also a Forest Service employee.

An activist in community affairs and protector of the environment, Gerry served 27 years on the Hayden Lake Water and Sewer District, including 20 years as chairman. His other efforts included service on the Hayden City Planning Commission, the Kootenai County Planning Commission, the Hayden Historical Society and the Eagle Scout Review Board. He was a recent recipient of the Hayden Chamber of Commerce’s Distinguished Community Service Award.

His bywords were, “On the other hand,” as he sought to bring adversaries to a common understanding.

Survivors include his wife Pat in the family home at Hayden Lake and children Mark, of Dalton Gardens, Holly of Sedona, Ariz., her partner Gary King, stepson Mark Baden and his wife Tracey, of Boise, stepdaughter Katherine Dallas and her husband Dan, of Monte Vista, Colo., and grandchildren Mitchell and Devin Dallas and Jordan and Race Baden.

Gerry’s friends are invited to a gathering at the Avondale Golf Club from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday July 7, 2012.