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Lee C. Mowreader

Lee C. Mowreader was born July 17, 1930, on a homestead near Florence, Ore., to Virgil and Arline Cox Mowreader. He died on Jan. 17, 2019, at his home in Hayden, Idaho.

Lee grew up in a family of eight children; five boys and three girls. He began his education in a small country school near his home. After the eighth grade he and his family moved closer to the schools in Florence. A later move away from the Oregon Coast took them to the town of Vale, Ore., where he became the only child in his family to graduate from high school.

In April of 1951 his nation called. He was drafted into the Army. After attending basic training and field medical school at Fort George G. Meade, Md., he was deployed to Korea to fight in the war. He was assigned to one of the famous MASH units and served as an operating room technician. After the Armistice was signed, he returned to the United States on a troop ship.

Once back on American soil, Lee took off his uniform and became a farmer in southwest Idaho. He eventually sought a different way of life and joined the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Public Roads, which built roads and bridges in the American West. His first assignment with the BPR was to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, where he met Mikell P. Arnold. They were married on Oct. 10, 1954, and stayed married for the rest of his life.

During his time with the BPR, Lee and Mikell raised five children — three girls and two boys — and lived all over Idaho, western Montana and western Wyoming. The BPR was a nomadic agency, so a two-ton truck became their second car and a succession of “eight-wide” and “ten-wide” trailers were their home. The family finally settled in St. Maries, Idaho.

The government eventually privatized the functions of the BPR, so Lee moved to the engineering branch of the U.S. Forest Service. Working out of the St. Maries office, he spent many years designing logging roads in the St. Joe National Forest. He retired in 1993. Several years later, he and Mikell moved to Hayden, Idaho, where they spent the rest of his life.

Besides his family and civil engineering, Lee’s great passions were hunting and fishing. In 1992, he killed a bull elk, which is still one of the 20 largest elk ever taken in Idaho.

Lee was predeceased by his parents, three stepsisters and one stepbrother. He is survived by his wife, three full brothers, five children, three granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.

No public services are planned at this time.