Rene Arlan Mesenbrink, 80
Rene Arlan Mesenbrink, 80, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, at in Davenport, Wash., at Lincoln County Nursing home.
Rene was born October 12, 1929, in Harlem, Mont., the second child of Mildred Dorthea and John August Mesenbrink.
Rene and his brothers grew up in Moyie Springs and attended Buckhorn School. He graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1947.
Rene joined the Navy after high school and was approved for the electoral program. He was commissioned to the Battleship USS Helena in January 1949 and was in the Korean Conflict.
Rene left the Navy in 1951 and started working with radar systems for Howard Hughes Aircraft. After about 16 months later, he left Howard Hughes and started working for another company that has contracts for radar systems for the government. The contracts were canceled, however, and Rene ventured in a different direction.
He used his G.I. bill to study accounting at Eastern Washington University. Rene enjoyed this new direction, but his G.I. bill ran out with only two classes to finish. He left EWU in 1955.
He found his way to Payette, where he worked as an apprentice electrician in an electrical shop.
While Rene was in southern Idaho, he met Polly Jean Hutchinson; they married July 31, 1959, in Fruitland.
The Mesenbrinks had four children — Drake, Debra and two children who did not survive infancy.
They couple moved to Seattle where Rene worked for Boeing until the major layoffs in the 1960s.
The family then moved to North Idaho where Rene worked for his brother, Herman, at his sawmill. Rene also started a back hoe business called Moyie Sand and Gravel.
For entertainment, Rene raced snowmobiles along side his brothers Herman and Joe and his son Drake. He also enjoyed panning for gold and searching for ”hat lost gold mine.” He was always talking about a new lead on some treasure.
Rene’s true joys in life were his grandchildren and his great-granddaughter. When they would walk into the room, his eyes would light up and he would genuinely smile.
Rene is preceded by his parents; brothers Gene, Herman and Joe Mesenbrink; and his infant children.
Rene is survived by his children Drake (Virginia) Mesenbrink of Rathdrum and Debra (Robert) Boleneus of Davenport; grandchildren Jyson (Janis) Muzzy of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Jessica Stonehouse of Coeur d’ Alene, and Ariel and Isabella Mesenbrink of Rathdrum, his great-granddaughter Avery Muzzy of Edmonton; former wife Polly Jean Mesenbrink of Spokane, Wash.; and numerous nieces and nephews.