Max Ririe

Max Henry Ririe, 89, of Ammon, passed away Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012, at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center due to heart failure.

Max was born Aug. 2, 1923, to James Edmond Ririe and Verna Fanny Perry Ririe in his grandmother's big stone house on Ririe Highway in Ririe, Idaho.

He was surrounded by his big, loving family when he came into the world and he left it the same way Sept. 2, 2012. In between, he helped engineer the modern world.

Max Ririe was a husband, father, farmer, engineer and entrepreneur. When he met MarDean Dalley at Ricks College in Rexburg, it was love at first sight. They were married in the Logan LDS Temple on Jan. 28, 1944.

Eleven days later, Max left to serve in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, and to MarDean's relief, he was stationed in Honolulu.

Max got a good start in Ririe. When he was only 8, he got his first taste of independence when he and his older brother, 10-year-old David, lived on Granite Flats on the family's dry farm, herding 120 head of sheep.

After the war, Max earned a degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Idaho and proceeded to work for nearly every major farm equipment manufacturer in the United States. He designed a new generation of large, high-powered farm equipment, including planters, harvesters and combines.

He contributed to other industries as well, designing the world's first self-propelled beach cleaner and bringing the power of agricultural equipment to snow grooming for ski resorts. At age 59, when most men think about retiring, Max founded AgParts Manufacturing Inc., which has provided millions of rollers and sprockets to farmers and equipment manufacturers since 1982.

Max Henry Ririe believed in leaving the world better than you find it. Throughout his life, he was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he served in many church callings, including as branch president in Marion, Ohio.

He leaves behind MarDean, his loving wife of 68 years; daughters, Linda Gundry, Carolyn Nielsen and Susan Hamerlynck, all of Ammon; son, Kirk Ririe of Salt Lake City; brother, David Ririe of Salinas, Calif.; sisters, Carma Fillmore of Ammon and Elaine Jackson of Pleasant Grove, Utah; 16 grandchildren; and 40 great-grandchildren.

Like him, we aspire to make the world a better place and to live life big like Grandpa Max.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Ammon LDS 10th Ward Building, 4375 E. Sunnyside Road, with Bishop Gary Blatter of the Ammon 24th Ward officiating. The family will visit with friends from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Wood Funeral Home East Side, 963 S. Ammon Road, and from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Saturday prior to the services at the church. Burial will be in Ririe-Shelton Cemetery with military rites performed by the Bonneville County Veterans Team.

Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.woodfuneralhome.com.