Owen Blake Toomer

Owen Blake Toomer, age 90, passed away at Meridian Meadows Transitional Care in Meridian Idaho on June 30, 2021.

Owen Blake, also known to many as “O.B.”, was born in Lanark Idaho on March 31, 1931, to Alfred Lee Toomer and Iretta (Roberts) Toomer-Nate.  He spent most of his childhood in Cokeville Wyoming and had fond memories of living and working with his dad at Haggerty Ranch.  When he was in the eighth grade, his family moved to Montpelier, where he first met George Lane, who became a good friend. (Little did he know at the time he would be his future brother-in-law) After his tenth grade in school, he left to join the U.S. Navy in 1951, with his best friend, Darrell Bills.  He served as an Engineman during the Korean War.  While enlisted, he received a Korean Presidential Unit Citation award, a Good Conduct Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, a Korean Service Medal, and a United Nations Medal.  He said, “It was a memorable Tour of Duty.”  He was honorably discharged in 1955 and then returned to Montpelier Idaho where he met and married Mary Joyce (Lane) Toomer and said he “was happy to adopt her four children, Douglas Jack Freeman, Brenda Lee (Freeman) Pratt, Liana (Freeman) Gutierrez and Roxanne (Freeman) Scott-Witt, and give them his name.”  They then had two more children together, Donald Blake Toomer and Susan Toomer-Halterman.

Owen Blake Toomer was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He was a hard worker and a “jack of all trades”.  Prior to enlisting in the Navy, he worked for Boise/Payette Lumber in Montpelier Idaho.  After his discharge from service, he went to work for San Francisco Chemical.  After his marriage with Mary dissolved, he left that job and went to work for Jacobsen Heating and Furniture in Montpelier Idaho and later took a job with the City of Montpelier as the Sanitation Engineer.  His two children, Donald and Susan Toomer came to live with him, and he was a wonderful father to them and raised them well.  He rekindled his relationship with Mary in 1979 and they were re-married April 4, 1980.  They bought a home in Pocatello Idaho and while there, he worked for Frank Ramsey’s Mobile Home Moving and Repair.  In 1986, when Ramsey’s went out of business, He took a job with Jensen’s Manufactured Homes in Nampa Idaho and moved to Kuna Idaho where his daughter, Susan and her family lived.  In January 1994, Owen and Mary sold their home in Kuna and “came back to good old Bear Lake” where he took over managing the Bear Lake County Airport until 2012, when he finally retired.

Owen Blake Toomer was survived by his two sisters, Janene Pugmire of Logan Utah, and Cheryl Rhyne of Hesperia California; his children, Liana (Freeman) Gutierrez of Pocatello Idaho, Donald Blake Toomer (Clara) of Yucca Arizona, Susan Toomer-Halterman of Montpelier Idaho, a stepson, Michael Melvin Rose (Tara) of Idaho Falls Idaho, 26 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his parents, Alfred Lee Toomer and Iretta (Roberts) Toomer-Nate; his wife, Mary Joyce (Lane) Toomer; his three brothers Glen Arlin “Tip” Toomer, Alfred Jack Toomer, and Roger Dee Toomer; his sister, Uleta (Toomer) Schrock; his children Roxanne (Freeman) Scott-Witt, Brenda Lee (Freeman) Pratt, and Douglas Jack Freeman; and his two grandchildren, Douglas Owen Freeman and Gina Dorothy (Pratt) Ward.

There will be a grave-side service held in his honor at Montpelier Idaho cemetery from 1:00-2:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, 2021.  (a Family-only viewing will be held prior to this service from 11:30-12:30 at Schwab-Matthews Mortuary in Montpelier Idaho)

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