No headline
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 6 years, 9 months AGO
Thayer
George Eli Thayer
Feb. 25, 1924 – March 12, 2019
It is with deep regret that we report the death of George Eli Thayer.
He is survived by the love of his life, Audrey Loretta (McCabe), with whom he shared 76 years of marriage. He leaves legacies through his daughter, Tina Thayer-Canning, and his son, Art R. Thayer; seven grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Tina Thayer-Canning; his brother, Arthur Roy Thayer and his parents.
A longtime resident and farmer of Rathdrum, Idaho, George was born to Osie and Annie Thayer in Excell, Alberta, Canada, and shortly after he and his family moved to the Spokane, Wash./Coeur d’Alene, Idaho area.
He attended West Valley High School before entering the Navy in 1943 during World War II. His naval career began at Farragut Naval Station, in Bayview, Idaho, followed by training in Norman, Okla., where he was an aviation mechanic for the U.S. Navy. He continued his career at Patuxent River Naval Base in Maryland.
After his discharge at the war’s end in 1945 he returned to the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area. Shortly after, he began his engineering career at Grinnell Company, in Spokane, where he quickly rose to department engineer in Seattle, Wash., and returned to Spokane in 1964. Starting in 1949, George began acquiring land on the Rathdrum Prairie and added to it until his retirement from Grinnell in 1966, when he began farming fulltime.
The farm, originally known as Thayer Seed and Service, raised Kentucky bluegrass seed, along with wheat, barley and oats. After becoming one of the first farms in the area to raise turf the company became Thayer Seed and Sod, as it remains to this day. Throughout his countless business interactions over the years, the only contract George needed was a handshake.
George’s kindness, sense of humor, and intellect will be sorely missed by anyone who knew him.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, 2019, at Riplinger Funeral Home, 4305 N. Division, Spokane. Interment to follow at Fairmount Memorial Park, 5200 W. Wellesley, Spokane. George’s online memorial and guest book can be found at www.riplingerfuneralhome.com