Dr. John Conant "John" Lee

1935 - 2025

Nampa - Born to Helen and Richard Lee on August 19, 1935 in Wendell, Idaho, John grew up on the Idalee family dairy farm between Jerome and Twin Falls. After a short but courageous battle against metastatic melanoma, he passed from this life to the next at home surrounded by friends and family on Sunday, May 4, 2025.

'Dr. John' graduated from Jerome High School and in 1959 graduated from Colorado State University with his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. For 32 years he was a partner at the Meridian Veterinary Clinic, practicing large and small animal medicine across the Treasure Valley. Partnering with Morlan Nelson, he pioneered raptor bone repair and rehabilitation that enabled thousands of sick and injured wild birds to return to the wild. This lead to involvement with The Condor Project in California and was instrumental in the World Birds of Prey locating to Boise. Dr. John retired in 1994, but always said that he never stopped "practicing", just not for hire. A wonderful story-teller, his many years of vet work were an endless source of material for humorous and heartfelt accounts of animals and their owners.



John was a creator. In college he helped make ends meet by crafting and tooling leather goods. Following in his mother's photography footsteps, he would attend college parties and dances to take photos, developing prints late into the night to market them to his fellow students the next day. Developing color and B/W photos would be a focus for decades alongside his wife Luann and daughter Becki's artwork. In 1993, he and Luann helped other local artists establish Art Source Gallery in downtown Boise. But woodworking was a passion throughout his life that he shared with his dad and son Roger, and he excelled at it. He especially enjoyed teaching "box-making" classes that he held at his shop and Woodcraft in Boise and was known as 'Little Box Guy'. He was always learning from other fellow woodworkers and expanding his knowledge of the craft. Over the years, the woodworking community in the Boise area became an extended family.



A true Renaissance man, he had widely diverse interests and curiosity in life. Camping, hunting, fishing, skiing and helping with family home renovations spanned decades. When his son Dan sailed for the U.S. Naval Academy, he learned alongside and explored Idaho's many lakes and reservoirs via sail power, even racing in local regattas with his family as crew. He loved classical music, started piano as a young adult, took lessons into his 50s and played consistently throughout his life. He relished eating wild game and fresh fish but wasn't dejected if he came home empty-handed - being in nature with friends and family was a reward in itself. Just a few years ago, he took up winter fly fishing with his daughter Becki. At 89, he tried deer and elk bow hunting for the first time with his son Eric, in northern Idaho.



He loved Jesus, God and his church family. Over the years he was a member and elder at a number of local churches including the First Christian Church Nampa, Valley Shepherd Church of the Nazarene in Meridian, Cole Community Church and for the last 24 years Grace Bible Church of Boise. In addition to supporting his sister Sally's missionary work in South America for more than 50 years among other faith-based organizations, he was a dedicated patron of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), whose world HQ is based in Nampa.



John is preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Luann, father Richard "Dick", mother Helen both of Jerome, and sister Judy, of Cheyenne, WY. Survivors include sister Sally Arias of Bogota, Columbia, brother Martin and his wife Susan of Jerome, daughter Becki Timson and her husband Mike of Nampa, son Captain (ret.) Dan and his wife Peggy of Celina, TX, son Eric and his wife April of Wallace, ID, son Roger and his wife Kristen of Bend, OR, 8 grandchildren (Ben, Anthony, Monika, Bryant, Alexander, Nicholas, Kathryn and Nathan) and 11 great grandchildren.



A celebration of life will be held at Grace Bible Church of Boise at 10 am on Saturday, August 23rd . In lieu of flowers, consider donations to MAF (maf.org).