John S. Townsend, Jr.

On Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, John S. Townsend, Jr. passed peacefully at his home in Moses Lake, Wash. With him were his long-time companion and members of his family. 

John was born in 1930 in Jordan Valley, Ore., when his parents were living and working near Silver City, Idaho. John was the oldest of John and Sybil Townsend’s five children. After John’s birth, the Townsends farmed near Tuttle, Idaho, but lost the farm when a windstorm destroyed their crop. 

In 1938, the family moved to Silver City, Idaho. John's father worked in the mine and his mother was the sole teacher at the school. The family bought a cow, and it was John's responsibility to milk it twice a day and deliver the milk to some of their neighbors. Silver City received a lot of snow each year and John said it was very cold delivering that milk. 

When the mine closed in 1941, they moved to Hagerman, Idaho, just down the road from Tuttle, to work Sybil's parents' farm. There, John's three siblings, his maternal grandfather and his uncle along with his parents, all lived in a two-room house. It was so crowded that John, and his younger brother Edgar slept in an old car body. In the winter they would snuggle to keep warm. A fifth child would be born after the family moved into a larger house. 

At age 14, John developed an infection in his right hip which left him bedridden. Doctors were unsure how to treat it and he was hospitalized in Boise, Idaho, for about six months. When penicillin became available after the war, it finally cleared the infection, but the damage was done, and his hip was destroyed. Doctors fused his femur to his hip at an angle so he could both stand and sit, but this left him with a pronounced limp. About forty years later, he was able to get his first hip replacement surgery which greatly improved his mobility.  

In 1948, unable to be drafted because of his hip, John attended the University of Idaho in Moscow, studying chemistry. There he met his future wife, Alice Compton of Blackfoot, Idaho. They were married in Blackfoot in 1952. 

John worked in the potato processing industry most of his career. He worked in Blackfoot and Idaho Falls, Idaho, until 1978. His career culminated with the purchase of Western Polymer in Moses Lake, Wash., in the early '80s. He turned the business around and made it successful in a few short months.  

Alice and John had three children: Michael John Townsend in 1954, Lynn Marie Townsend-White in 1956, and Sheldon Evan Townsend in 1960, all of Moses Lake, Wash. 

John was active in Rotary most of his adult life, up until 2020. He also served as a member of the Board for the Big Bend Community College Foundation for 26 years, from 1995 to 2021. The Foundation provides scholarships, books and emergency assistance to financially assist students in their goal of earning a degree or certificate. 

When John was younger, he enjoyed fishing and hunting. The family would go on adventures that were called "Sunday stucks" when the entire Townsend clan would pile in the car after church and drive into the mountains around Blackfoot until the car could go no farther, having been stuck.  

John also enjoyed visiting family members such as his sisters and his brother and their families in addition to numerous cousins. 

John is survived by his long-time companion, Betty Gard, his children, Mike (Becki), Lynn (Alan) and Sheldon (Lynn), his younger brother, Edgar (Barbara) Townsend of Moscow, Idaho, and his former wife, Alice (Wayne) McAlexander of Moses Lake. He has eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents and his sisters, Gwendolyn Townsend Thorne, Charlotte Townsend Allen, and Lenora Townsend Pepin.  

A memorial service will be held at Moses Lake Christian Church, 200 Yonezawa Blvd., Moses Lake, Wash., on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, at 11 a.m. 

Please express your thoughts and memories for the family at https://bit.ly/JSTOWNSENDJR. Arrangements are under the care of Kayser’s Chapel of Memories.