David S. Deschamps, Jr., 25 April 1924

David Stephens Deschamps, Jr., 78, prominent Oneida County cattleman and lifelong resident of St. John, passed away December 24, 2002 at the Oneida County Hospital emergency room of complications due to chronic lung disease.

Dave was born April 25, 1924 in Salt Lake City, UT, the youngest son of David S. Deschamps, Sr. and (?) Blanche Davis Deschamps. He joined three living brothers and three sisters at the Deschamps ranch house in St. John, in which he would make his lifelong home. His younger years fell during the Great Depression, but due to his father’s expertise in the cattle trading industry, Dave didn’t suffer the effects of the era as many did. He said the hard working family always had enough of what they needed.

He rode his horse daily to the St. John School, where he earned the rank of eighth grade class salutatorian. During those years he enjoyed traveling to rodeos with L.M. Camp, and he never missed an area fair where he exhibited championship Hereford cattle. His father taught him hard work ethics, and all about the cattle industry and the wisdom of investing and dealing.

He graduated from Malad High School in 1942. His mother insisted that he have musical training, so he finally settled on the saxophone, which he played in the high school band. He was quick to admit that his just a little bit older sister, Blanche, got his share of musical ability!

He attended Utah State Agricultural College (later to become Utah State University) in Logan, where he eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and economics. His college education spanned years due to his military service in two wars. During World War II he served in the Merchant Marines guarding the shores of Catalina Island and later in the US Army in the Pacific on a gunship. He was among the first wave of soldiers which occupied Japan following the surrender. During the Korean War, he served in southern France. Mingled with college time at Logan, and serving in the military, Dave traveled in Europe and worked for a while on a freighter ship in the Suez Canal. He was impressed with the low esteem in which many overpopulated regions regarded its own citizens. It was common for the ship to be loaded with ore one basket at a time, carried on the heads of residents. The men loaders in India were paid 50 cents per day and the women received 25 cents. He came to really appreciate the wonderful life afforded him in the western United States.

One of his stints abroad he returned with a Jaguar (sports car) which was his pride and joy, and he wanted to travel to Acapulco on the newly opened highway which ran through Mexico. He and two buddies from Idaho lived in an apartment at the beach for about four months until tragedy struck. While diving from the rocks into the surf, one of his friends struck the rocks below and died. It was a challenge to Dave to return his friend’s body to Idaho, at one point parting with a diamond ring to a less than honest Mexican official.

He then returned to his ranch in St. John. He was engaged in the cattle industry with his father and brothers, Louis and parley. Dave provided a wonderful life for his two daughters, Barbara and Kristine at the ranch. He made sure they had all the things important in a child’s life – horses to ride, haystacks and barns to conquer, trucks and tractors to drive, cattle to drive, corn to pick, calves to feed. For many years each Monday throughout the winter months, Dave would pack up a truckload of ready for market cattle, plus one of his daughters, and head for the Ogden livestock auction. This was more important schooling for his daughters than a day’s study in elementary school. Dave made sure his girls had it all. Throughout childhood and adult years, when his daughters encountered bumps along the way, he was always forgiving, supportive and optimistic, and did all he could to help them get life back on track. He held true to the motto “A Father is a Banker Provided by Nature.”

Throughout the years he and Carol provided employment and second homes for numerous young people needing a hand. They always enjoyed seeing them again. During the years, Dave enjoyed trap shooting and racing horses and entertaining lots and lots of friends. Untold amounts of ham and eggs were cooked at midnight in the Deschamps’s kitchen, lots of whiskey was shared and volumes of songs were sung around the oak table. Sunday afternoon barbeques were a regular occurrence year-round. He enjoyed yearly summer visits of his nieces and nephews who in-turn enjoyed many adventures on the ranch.

There are a lot of rodeo cowboys and wannabe cowboys, but Dave was a real cowboy. He marked thousands of miles in a saddle. Roping and branding was all just part of the work, and his life, but it also was sport. Dave and ken Blaisdell were known to try to ride Kristine’s Shetland pony, Mogley, around midnight. Mogley didn’t like boys and would buck them off, but did like girls and would let the girls ride. When Kristine outgrew Mogley, he was moved to the Blaisdell ranch, where he became Ken’s daughter, Sherry’s, pony. She had no trouble riding him, even though two real cowboys – Dave and Ken – just couldn’t make the ride.

He was proud of the East Lateral Gravity Irrigation System, which served the Deschamps farm along with several adjacent farms with pressurized water for sprinkling from the St. John irrigation system. The gravity system was his brainchild and has continued to provide service for over 20 years.

When he retired in the 1990’s, Dave took up golfing, and for several years golfed daily. He enjoyed making a hole-in-one at Belmont, and especially enjoyed the friendships he made there.

Dave was highly intelligent, feisty, quick at a comeback and enjoyed making a smart deal. He could bark orders and cuss better than the average Joe, and could figure intricate interest rates and agricultural prices in his head. He enjoyed reading everything, and subscribed to numerous newspapers and magazines. At age 74, Dave officially joined the computer generation. He bought a computer and learned to “surf the Net” and exchange e-mail messages and jokes (many of which were pretty scary) with family and friends. He never stopped learning and enjoyed sharing his jokes.

Over the years, Dave was a member of many organizations including Sigma Nu fraternity, the Eagles, Idaho and National Cattlemen’s Assn, and the Ernest W. Jones Post No. 65 of the American Legion and served on several boards of directors, including St. John Irrigating Co., and Buist Fields Cattle Assn.

Dave enjoyed good friends, good tales, good whiskey and peanut butter. He lived life on his own terms, right up until the end. He was one of a kind.

He is survived by his two daughters and sons in law, Barbara and john H. Walters, Seattle, WA and Kristine and Ron Smith, Pocatello; two granddaughters and one grandson in law, Leslie Anne and David F. Jones, Pocatello, and Jessica Lynn Walters of Seattle and currently a student at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire; one brother, Ray Deschamps, Boise; and two sisters, Shelba Dredge, Malad; and Blanche (George) Weston, Lafayette, CA; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Carol, who passed away in February, 2002, two brothers, Louis Deschamps and parley Deschamps; one sister, Mary Harris, two baby brothers who died in infancy, and his beloved only grandson, David Parley Jones.

Close friends are invited to join in hoisting a toddy or other brew during a wake (not an Irish wake, but a French-Canadian-Indian-English-Welsh wake) at the Deschamps ranch house in St. John on December 28 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.