John Cross Alden, 91

After a long, adventurous life, John Cross Alden went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and his beloved, Irvina, on Jan. 7, 2016. He was born on Dec. 20, 1924, to Arthur and Marguerite Alden in Barnstead, N.H. Life for John took on new meaning when in 1958 at a Billy Graham rally in Los Angeles, John accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. John faithfully served Him until his death, leading many to faith in Christ.

John was a 10th generation direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden and was the last John Alden to actually live in the John Alden House in Duxbury, Mass. He was always proud of his Pilgrim heritage, which lead him to publish articles of that heritage in the Coeur d’Alene Press.

John met Irvina Bradford Jones at Duxbury High School and later married her on April 19, 1947. They lived in Duxbury where John became a Master Electrician, running his own contracting company. In 1955, they moved to Glendale, Calif., where John worked for various electrical companies, then became a Computer Numerical Control Technician, working in the Aerospace industry for 27 years. His friends came to know him as a “Jack-of-All-Trades-and-Master-of-them-All.” Upon retirement, John and Irvina fulfilled their dream of purchasing a motor home and traveling around the United States, finally settling in Coeur d’Alene in 1989.

Photography, scrapbooking and writing were three of John’s passions. He leaves more than 50 albums detailing his family’s story during his lifetime. In recent years, John chronicled his and Irvina’s difficult journey through her Alzheimer’s disease by writing a monthly journal entitled “The Wellspring Bulletin” and an anthology of poems entitled “My Beloved.”

John was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Irvina; great-granddaughter Madelyn Grace Vetsch and great-grandson Christian Peter Culver. He is survived by his sister, Beatrice Alden Nelson of Barnstead; his three children, Jacqueline Marie Alden of Sunriver, Ore., John Bradford (Sue) Alden of Coeur d’Alene, and Gerald Chesley (Grethel) Alden of Silverton, Ore. He was blessed to have six grandchildren, Mindy (Andrew) Culver, Myles (Tiana) Alden, Michelle (Nathan) Vetsch, Lydia (Jackson) Sherwood, Nicholas (Jeni) Alden and Jason (Lindsey) Williams. Another blessing were his 13 great-grandchildren: Caleb and Catelyn Culver, Carson and Quin von Weller, Remmie Sherwood, Daelyn, Ainsley, and Roan Alden, Luke, Jack and Grant Vetsch, and Knox and Nora Williams.

Thank you to Wellspring Meadows, North Star Assisted Living and Mary Jean with Auburn Crest Hospice for your loving and compassionate care.

Memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, at Grace Bible Church, 152 W. Prairie Ave., Hayden. Please visit John’s online memorial and sign his guest book at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.