Sidney 'Sid' Home Neumeyer, 92

Surrounded by family who filled his life with love and happiness, Sidney “Sid” Homer Neumeyer, 92, peacefully passed away from natural causes on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, at his home in Bonners Ferry.

A celebration of Sid’s life was held at United Methodist Church on Saturday.  Family and close friends will continue to honor and celebrate his life at future gatherings.

Sid was a simple man who tinkered with many found items, finding a way to make it work with no master plan. He was the ultimate recycler-use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. He would always share his “Neumeyerisms” if you were in ear shot, most of which were too colorful to repeat here.

Sid was born Aug. 16, 1916, in Bedford, Iowa, to Henry and Constance Neumeyer.

Farming was the livelihood to his family of four brothers and two sisters. Sid’s stories of growing up made the hard work sound like play as he was able to do the chores with his brothers and friends.

In his early 20s, he ventured to Oregon and Idaho to visit his uncles, Fred and Frank Florea.

Sid returned to the Midwest to join the Army in May 1941. He served his entire tour of duty at Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii, across from Pearl Harbor.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Sid had just returned to his barracks from breakfast, coming off duty, when he saw the Japanese pilots flying so low he could see them in the cockpit. He returned to Idaho after the war, working the harvest in many of the local drainage districts.

On one of his visits “back home” to Iowa, Sid met his wife, the former Eunice Penton while at a country dance. She came West for a visit and the rest is history. They were married Oct. 6, 1951, in Bonners Ferry.

Sid excelled at operating heavy equipment and prided himself on his natural ability to level a grade better than any engineer had measured on many projects, including road building or landscaping.

Among others, Sid worked for Lipp & Ehrmantrout Excavating and retired from the Bonners Ferry City Street and Sewer Department in 1978.

He loved the outdoors, playing baseball even into his 70’s. Sid also enjoyed fishing, hunting, picking huckleberries, gardening and Sunday drives.

Until death did they part. Sid and Eunice resided at their little bit of Paradise in the so named region of Boundary County, where they raised four children and nurtured their family tree of numerous family members and friends.

Sid is survived by his wife; children Dean (Holly) of Fairbanks, Alaska, Jean (Gus) Diel and Steve (Ronna), all of Bonners Ferry, and Shelley (Gary) Hanzen of Coeur d’ Álene; brothers George of Hopkins, Mo., and Howard of Council, Idaho; grandchildren Tammy Peterson, Kristina Westbrook, Laura (Chad) Kimball, Katie, Becky and Heidi Diel, Derek, Hayden and Taylor Hanzen, and Joe, Kendra and Ben Neumeyer; five great-grandchildren; and several cousins, nieces and nephews.