Lewiston Tribune, Jan 3, 2014
Virgil McIntosh, 87, Weippe
A good man lost his life Dec. 29, 2013. Virgil McIntosh will be remembered as a kind and loving man by all who knew him. He was a happy person who brightened the lives of everyone he came in contact with.
Virgil was born Sept. 12, 1926, in Sprague River, OR. He grew up in the Browns Creek area between Pierce and Weippe. As a young man, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on the USS Suwannee (CVE-27) as a boiler tech during the Second World War. He toured Nagasaki a few weeks after it was destroyed by an atomic bomb. He didn't often talk about his experiences during the war. When pressed, he would tell stories of his ship being hit by a kamikaze pilot and of the near total destruction of Nagasaki. One of the things that amazed him was how big metal lathes were reduced to globs of metal even though they were a long way from the blast site.
After the war, Virgil returned to Idaho, where he worked in the woods and in sawmills with his brothers and father. During this time he married Jean Welsh, who bore him four children, James, Cory, Tracy and Adam. Virgil and Jean moved to the Oregon Coast in the late '50s, where he began working in shingle mills. He was a member of the Shingle Weavers' union from the '60s to the early '80s, when it dissolved. Virgil lost Jean to cancer in 1970. He married Carolyn Burkett and moved to Forks, WA, in 1974. They were divorced in 1975. Virgil then married Clarice Eddy and lived in Port Angeles, WA, for a short time before they divorced. The shingle industry was dying, so Virgil decided to return to Idaho. In Weippe, he met and married Louella Jacobson. They were happily married for many years. During this time, they spent their summers working for the U.S. Forest Service at Canyon Work Center. Louella died of cancer in 2004. Virgil then married Virginia McIntosh, whom he cherished until his death on Dec. 29, 2013.
Virgil was preceded in death by his father, King; mother Esther; brothers, Charlie and Cliff; and wives Jean, Carolyn and Louella. He is survived by his wife, Virginia; brothers, Leonard and Don; sons, James, Cory and Adam; daughter, Tracy; stepson, Dale; stepdaughters, Wilma and Laura; grandsons, Adam, Michael, Daniel and Gaspare; granddaughters, Jennifer, Erin and Tara; and great-granddaughter, Dezirae.
His memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mountain View Funeral Home. A covered-dish meal will be held at the funeral home after the service.
Transcribed by Michal Berreth-Beck, 2014