J.B. Wages 1930 ~ 2006
May 31, 2006
Jefferson Byron (J.B.) Wages (76) passed away on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at his home near Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Funeral Services were held June at the First Baptist Church in Bonners Ferry with internment in the Grandview Cemetery.
J.B. was born in Lubbock, Texas, January 10, 1930, the first of four sons born to Adolph and Eura Wages. He grew up on a farm near Shallowater, Texas. In 1950, he joined the U.S. Navy and spent four years in San Diego, California. He married Mary Jim Ashburn in 1952, and they returned to his home in Shallowater in 1954, already making plans to move to Bonners Ferry.
In 1955, along with seven other families who liked the idea of "self watering" crops, the big move was made.
J.B. helped organize the First Baptist Church in June, 1955, where he faithfully served the Lord.
His farming career cut short by floods, J.B. worked for Monk Shelman's Texaco, the Kootenai grain elevator and K.V. Hardware before he bought the Esso dealership from Dayton Douglas and Les Howard in 1959. In 1973, he built a tire dealership on the South Hill, and in 1985 he became a Les Schwab dealer.
He and Mary Jim were married almost 54 years, and they raised a family of four boys and one girl.
Originally published on the website - Kootenai Valley Press - May 31, 2006
www.kvpress.com/obituaries/2006/0530wages.htm