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Jeff Mamola, 53

Jeff Mamola, 53, lost his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on May 24, 2019, with his family by his side. Jeff fought an incredibly courageous four-year fight and showed his strength and his will to persevere to the end.

Jeff was born on Dec. 24, 1965, in Glendale, Calif., and lived his early childhood in Orange County. A family move brought him to Kingston, Idaho, in 1978 and later Hayden Lake, Idaho, where Jeff would attend Coeur d’Alene High School. He played football for CHS and graduated in 1984. After high school, Jeff attended Carroll College, in Helena, Mont., and later moved back to the Spokane/ Coeur d’Alene area, where he met his wife. They welcomed their first child, Lauren, while living in Gig Harbor, Wash. Wanting to be closer to family, they relocated to Post Falls, Idaho, where Jeff and his wife welcomed their second child, Jake. Jeff lived in Post Falls until his passing.

In 1999, Jeff was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He did not allow this to slow him down too much.

Most of Jeff’s free time was spent being active in his children’s sport activities. Lauren played club volleyball for many years and he would drive all over the Northwest to be at every match and cheer her on. When Jake started playing pee-wee sports, Jeff began his coaching career by coaching Jake’s soccer and baseball teams. This was despite Jeff’s limited experience with either sport, but he learned as he went.

Jeff’s real strength as a coach shined when he started coaching for Post Falls Jr. Tackle, where he coached the Post Falls Vandals for five years. Jeff loved coaching football and spending this time with his son and the team. He coached many of these boys until they were old enough to play on school teams. Jeff loved this time of his life. His final season of coaching was followed up with his diagnosis of ALS. After that, you could find Jeff with his Mom and Dad at every Post Falls High School football game, cheering Jake and the team on until he was physically unable to attend.

Jeff was also very involved in the Spokane Ski Racing Association (SSRA), where his son, Jake, ski-raced for eight years. Jeff again found himself driving all over the Northwest, like he did years before with his daughter, to attend every race. Jeff rarely, if ever, missed a race and as if he wasn’t busy enough, he was also involved in the fundraising efforts for the SSRA.

Outside of sports endeavors, Jeff was also involved with the local greyhound rescue community and adopted two greyhounds, which he loved dearly.

Jeff instilled in his children his love of skiing, traveling, learning about other cultures and trying new foods. Jeff was always up for a debate on almost any subject — from politics to the Seahawks — and could answer almost any trivia question on movies or music from the ’80s. But above all, Jeff was a dedicated father, a caring son, a steadfast brother and a friend who saw the best in other people.

Jeff had many caregivers over the years who made his life better. They are too numerous to name, but we would like to specifically thank Teresa Gomez, for being by his side until the end.

Jeff is survived by his children, Lauren Mamola and Jake Mamola of Post Falls; his parents, Gary and Sandy Mamola of Coeur d’Alene; his sister and brother-in-law Nicole Mamola and Andrew Turner of Sammamish, Wash.

There will be a celebration of Jeff’s life at 2 p.m. on June 29, 2019, at his parents’ home, 516 S. 11th St., Coeur d’Alene.

To honor Jeff’s love of animals, donations can be made to the Kootenai Humane Society, or to Matt’s Place Foundation to help others with ALS.