Lee Gordon Taylor, 86, of Careywood, Idaho, passed away on June 20, 2014, of congestive heart failure; the end came peacefully at home surrounded by his family. 

He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend.  

Lee was born on May 8, 1928, in Chicago, Ill. He was the eldest of four children born to Frank Taylor and Gelena Thompson Taylor. The family moved around during Lee's youth following employment for Frank, but Gelena and the children finally settled in Havre, Mont., in 1939. 

Lee quit high school in 1945 at the age of 17 and joined the Navy. He served as a machinist mate on five different ships and was discharged in 1949. During his duty in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1947, Lee met and started dating Adelaide “Addie” F. Schubert. They met at a roller skating rink on Long Island. Over the next several years, Lee and Addie corresponded as Lee earned his high school GED in Havre, Mont. He then decided to return to New York in 1951 and was hired by Republic Aviation as a final assembly mechanic.

Lee and Addie were married on August 2, 1952, and moved to Babylon on Long Island, N.Y. Four of their six children were born in New York. Lee, Addie, and the family moved to the Northwest in 1957, staying a short time in Havre, a year in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, finally settling in Careywood in 1959. Lee worked for the Potlatch Lumber Mill in Coeur d’Alene until 1967.

Lee purchased the 167-acre Careywood farm in 1959 for $11,000. He started out with a $50 tractor and one Guernsey cow. Lee's mechanical ingenuity repaired and overhauled many pieces of old farm equipment, and he soon had a working farm with cattle, pigs, chickens, a huge garden, plentiful hunting, and six kids. He logged part of the property for several years, and then in 1976 started the Triple T (tree) Nursery with two of his sons.

The farm animals, hay fields, and logging were eventually replaced by tree planting, pruning, and digging. The Triple T Nursery trees are well-known in Moscow, Idaho, as the primary source of Christmas trees for the annual St. Mary’s School fundraiser. Lee retired from the family business in 1990.

Lee had many talents: Mechanical, electronics, artistic, welding, lathe work, innovative designs, and creative inventions. In his early years he drew and painted, particularly figures from the old West. He designed and carved the gun stocks of several of his rifles, and loved electronics so he took a course at Spokane Community College in 1969 and built his own ham radio. When the wood furnace in the house needed replacing, Lee designed a new and better one, built it, and installed it.

Lee learned to play harmonica “by ear,” and his children fondly remember him playing it to them as youngsters. In his retirement years, he loved to collect and fix up old Mercedes-Benz automobiles. Lee had four vehicles which he got operational, and, of course, one was always on hand for spare parts to fix the others. He was an avid reader of nonfiction, loved news shows of all kinds and was well-informed on world events, the economy, and politics.  

Lee was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Gelena; and two sisters, Eileen Earle and Rhoda Burke.

Lee is survived by his wife, Addie, of 61 years at the family farm; his children: Mike Taylor, of Murray, Idaho; Kathleen Taylor, of Sagle, Idaho; Maureen Taylor Regan (Don), of Moscow, Idaho; Eric Taylor (Mary), of Careywood, Idaho; Tim Taylor (Julie), of Onaway, Idaho; and Trish Taylor Ponappa (Tilak), of Kodagu, India; ten grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and his brother, Wayne Taylor, of Challis, Idaho.  

Memorial donations in Lee's honor may be made to Union Gospel Mission, 196 W. Haycraft Ave., Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83815; KSPS Public Television, 3911 S. Regal St., Spokane, Wash., 99223; or any veteran's organization of your choice.

Visitation will be from 2-7 p.m., Friday, June 27, at English Funeral Chapel in Coeur d’Alene. The funeral service will be at 11 a.m.,Saturday, June 28, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Coeur d’Alene, with burial at St. Thomas Cemetery. English Funeral Chapel of Coeur d'Alene has been entrusted to handle final arrangements. Please visit Lee's online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.