Lorin Wayne Grow

1925 - 2016

Lorin Wayne Grow
Lorin Wayne Grow, 91, of Boise passed away peacefully on September 4, 2016 with family members surrounding him.
Wayne was born February 24, 1925, to Lorin McKay Grow and Viola Lucretia Wood Grow in the small rural area known as View, located South of Burley, Idaho. He is the fifth of seven children in the family. Wayne was full of life and just a little on the mischievous and stubborn side, with his older sisters heard to say they didn't much like having to tend him when their parents were away, and his parents saying they were happy when Wayne and his younger brother finally went to bed at night. As his dad led him from the home to begin school, Wayne grabbed the gate post and wouldn't let go.
Farm life gave Wayne the experiences of milking cows by hand, mowing hay with a team of horses and bunching the raked hay with a pitchfork. As he grew into a strong and hard worker, he picked potatoes and topped beets to earn money. There were also fun times swimming in the irrigation canal, becoming a good hunter and fisherman and enjoying everything about the outdoors.
When he was a teenager, Wayne's family moved into Burley where he later graduated from Burley High School in 1943. Shortly thereafter, Wayne joined the Navy, trained at Farragut Idaho and served for nearly two and one-half years on a PT boat in Guinea, the Philippines and other South Pacific areas. When asked about his service, he would usually laugh and tell a story of his boat's crew being sent on a special mission to rescue a local Sultan and his harem to avoid their capture by the Japanese.
Upon returning from the war, Wayne worked in his brother-in-law's service station in Burley and began dating LaRue Bodily, whom he later married on August 23, 1946. They then moved to Moscow, Idaho, where Wayne studied business and accounting at the University of Idaho. Their first collage home was a trailer so small that Wayne was not able to stand up straight when inside. While living in Moscow, their son John was born on May 22, 1947.
After graduating in 1950, Wayne moved his family to Twin Falls, Idaho where he worked as a controller for the C.C. Anderson Department Store. From there a work transfer took them to Longview, Washington where he and John developed a love of fishing on the Columbia River. Another transfer took the family to Bellingham, Washington and more good fishing, this time for salmon on Puget Sound near the San Juan Islands. The next job transfer took them to Missoula, Montana where Wayne worked for the Missoula Mercantile Company, another store in the Allied chain.
During their stay in Missoula they were active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were sealed in the Cardston Alberta Canada LDS Temple. One of his home teaching assignments caused him to travel up Rock Creek, where he could fulfill his church assignment and get in some good fishing all in the same trip.
His final transfer with Allied Stores brought him to Boise, Idaho where he worked as controller for the Bon Marche store. He would often say the thing he liked least about working in retail was confronting shoplifters and working long hours during the holidays. LaRue worked at First Security Bank where she was head teller. In 1977, LaRue entered the hospital for a surgery and there suffered a stroke which ultimately led to her death in July, 1977, a devastating event in Wayne's life.
Later that year, Wayne attended a dance and met Elaine Reed, who in time accepted his proposal and they were married December 10, 1977 in the Ogden, Utah LDS Temple.
Wayne retired from the Bon Marche but later accepted a job creating an accounting and inventory control system for The Comstock Lode leather goods company in Boise. This position took Wayne and Elaine to Europe and elsewhere establishing contacts for that business. Complete retirement never quite seemed to suit him, and he would later spend a few years assisting in management of the J. Weil Company here in Boise.
In 1990, Wayne retired for good and began working two days per week in the Boise LDS Temple, an opportunity which he found extremely fulfilling. He would serve in the temple for 20 continuous years. He has served in many church callings, but most important to him was the simple opportunity to help people out, whether it involved lawn work for a widow or fixing things around the neighborhood. That constant helpful nature would lead him, at age 89, to fall from ladder while helping a neighbor clean leaves and branches off a carport, resulting in some injuries from which he would never recover.
Throughout his life, Wayne was best known as a man who loved his family deeply, served others and brightened their day. His smile and great sense of humor left everyone grateful for the chance to know him.
Wayne is survived by his wife Elaine; son John D. Grow (Linda) of Oregon City, OR; stepson Randall B. Reed of Mesa, AZ (Deb); his younger brother Cecil Grow (Elsie) of Boise; nine grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
The family extends special thanks to the many loving caregivers who have assisted Wayne and Elaine the past few years.
Funeral services will be held 10:00 a.m. Saturady, September 10 at the Northview Ward LDS Chapel, 6711 West Northview Street, Boise. Burial will be at the Pleasant View Cemetery in Burley, where a brief graveside service and dedication of the grave will be held Saturday at 4:00 PM. Friends may also greet the family at a viewing on Friday evening, September 9, at the church from 7:00—8:00 p.m. and again at the church from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. Saturday prior to the services. Arrangements are under the direction of Zeyer Funeral Chapel, Nampa 467-7300. Condolences may be expressed at zeyerfuneralchapel.com
Those wishing to make a memorial in Wayne's honor are invited to direct those gifts to the LDS Humanitarian Fund or the LDS Perpetual Education Fund.