Darrell Arthur Carr

He graduated from Ontario High School in 1969 and was happy to celebrate his 50th class reunion with his classmates. Earlier, he had reconnected with his best High School friend, Steve Taylor.

After High School, Darrell served in the Idaho Air Guard for six years as a jet engine mechanic. He also attended Treasure Valley Community College.

While in the Air Guard, he met his future wife, Deanna Blickenstaff, and they were married on August 15, 1975. They celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary earlier this year.

While growing up, Darrell had many kids in his neighborhood, including Steve and they shared many exploits. Darrell’s most remembered adventure was swinging from a tree with a rope in his mouth while pretending to be Tarzan. This resulted in the loss of two teeth and dissuaded him from trying it again.

His family loved to go camping together. As a family, they joined the First Christian Church in Ontario. Darrell loved attending youth activities. They attended the Benjamin family reunion in Emigrant Park every Fourth of July as this was the birthday of the matriarch, Grandma Benjamin.

In 1982, his only child, Derek Nicholas was born. Although it took him a long time to enter the world, he has been a joy to both his parents. Darrell went to all of his school sports activities, Judo and church Youth activities. However, their passion was the race car which they built together. Darrell was the racer and Derek the crew chief. They spent many hours working on the car and days at Firebird Raceway.

Darrell loved his career as an electrician at Fruitland Electric and was the very first employee. He is part owner and worked there for over 30 years. For many years he worked in the field until rheumatoid arthritis crippled his hands. After that, he became the purchasing agent, the design engineer and assistant job supervisor. He held a Masters in Electrical licensing in Idaho and was a General Supervising Electrician in Oregon.

On September 27, 2014, Derek married the love of his life, Jamie Hardison. She immediately became the daughter he did not have. Darrell loved her from the very first, she made him so happy. She was a light in his eyes. She drew things out in him because of her own joy, laughter and love of life.

Darrell was good at building things. He built a BBQ out of a whiskey barrel, a coffee table with a glass top which is still in the house today. His biggest project was building the deck. Having a teacher as a wife, allowed him to hone his skills in building and all things electrical. The most interesting of the projects was a huge wooden hammock frame. The kids built the hammock itself by weaving together six-pack beverage rings. Believe it or not, the hammock was very strong and students got to take turns lying in it to read books. Deanna never tried it herself.

A favorite time in 2017, was going on a cruise to the Caribbean with Dave and Dalyce Knight. Some of the adventures we had stayed in the Caribbean. Another fun trip was pulling the race car all the way to Mission, British Columbia. The torrential rain made the racing quite sporadic and Darrell lost in his first race, but it was still fun.

Darrell and Deanna joined The Payette United Methodist Church on Easter of this year. Darrell was very active in the Men’s Bible Study.

He is survived by Deanna, his wife; Derek, his son and his daughter-in-law, Jamie; two sisters, Kathy and Diane; two nephews, Jeremy and Eugene and their families; his brother-in-law, Mike(Marilyn), sister-in-law, Mary Ann(Gary), brother-in-law, John(Jesse), nieces Erin, Corin, Sara, and nephew, Adam and their families; numerous cousins and two aunts.

Darrell was preceded in death by his parents, Art and Jennie Carr and his two special friends, Duane Davis and Hal King.

Darrell will be remembered for his strength, courage, his dedication, his willingness to help and the love he gave to others.

You fought the good fight, Darrell. Godspeed!