Neil Hirschi

Our beloved father, husband, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend to many, passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his wife and children, ending his battle with cancer, the morning of October 18th, 2025.

Born on May 28, 1949 to LaVell and Donna Hirschi, in Salem, Idaho, he was the fifth of eight children. He learned the art of hard work being raised on a farm. Milking cows, bucking potato sacks, and picking strawberries in his mothers garden were common chores.

He had a happy childhood. When he wasn't working, his summers were spent running around barefoot, fishing and swimming in the Teton River, and picking huckleberries with his family up in Moody Meadows.

He attended Sugar-Salem High School where he was an avid athlete. He was a guard on the varsity basketball team, and ran the two mile in track. He also played football and wrestled his freshman year. He had a mean basketball shot and was high scorer of many games.

He earned a basketball and cross country scholarship to Ricks College. As participant on their cross country team, they qualified for the National Junior College Cross Country Meet in Long Island, New York.

He met his wife and lifelong sweetheart Kathryn Schwendiman through a blind date in 1967, while attending Sugar-Salem High School. They were later married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple on June 10, 1970.

Upon graduating from BYU, they moved across the country where they began working for the F.B.I. in Washington D.C. After one year they made the decision to return home to help Kathryn's father farm potatoes in Newdale, Idaho. Newdale was their home for the next 45 years and is where they raised their five children.

Neil started working for the South Fremont School District, where he taught a variety of classes, but his favorite were U.S. History and Government. He also coached almost every sport and was able to take the boy's wrestling team all the way to win the 1985 Idaho State Championship. This was the first state championship South Fremont had won in any sport. Later in his career he moved into administration and eventually retired after 35 years of service.

He once had a college professor tell him, "Don't be a two-by-four teacher – meaning two covers of a book and four walls of a classroom. Take your students out and expose them to the world." He took these words to heart and it sparked him to organize a high school senior trip to the east coast, where students could visit U.S. history sites studied in his U.S. History & Government classes. Since the first trip in 1990, he has organized this same tour for multiple high schools every year, only missing in 2020 due to the pandemic.

This trip was also the start of how he and Kathryn found their true passion in life, travel. Their tour company, K&N Tours, has organized and chaperoned tour groups to various destinations, both nationally and internationally, every year for the past 35 years. They enjoyed exploring new places, meeting new people and sharing their favorite destinations with others.

They have been active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings over the years, including working in the Idaho Falls Temple as well as spending a summer as service missionaries at the Pasa La Coma Girls Camp in Bone, Idaho.

In the end, he built a life of work, faith, and family. From the farm fields of Newdale to classrooms and tour buses around the world, he met good people and learned that every honest day's work counts. He drove tractors and school buses, coached champions, comforted students, led history tours, and watched his children raise children on their own.

The memories, the friendships, and the love are the things that last. Our family will greatly miss his kindness, sense of humor, passion for life, generous hospitality and of course, his cooking.

He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, and five children: Kami Brown, Kristie Buehner, Jaron Hirschi, Stephanie Orr, and Devin Hirschi. Siblings, Sharleen Simpson, Guinette Isom, Robin Hirschi and Alaris Treat. He has 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, and one brother.

A viewing will be held at Flamm Funeral Home in Rexburg, Idaho on Thursday, October 30, 2025 from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm. The funeral will be held at the Sage Creek Ward Chapel in Idaho Falls (3370 N. 5th W.) Idaho on Saturday, November 1st. A viewing will be held that day from 10am - 10:45am prior to the service at 11:00 am. He will be buried in the Teton-Newdale Cemetery.

Service will be broadcast at: https://my.gather.app/remember/neil-hirschi