Jim E Plocher

Jim E Plocher went to be with his Lord and Savior on February 11, 2021 at the age of 67 at Cassia Regional Medical Center.  Jim was born on August 15, 1953 in Rupert, Idaho to Elmore and Lola (nee Drussel) Plocher.

As a child, Jim spent a lot of time playing cowboys and indians with his cousins at the rock pile on his dad’s farm.  They would pack a lunch and make the half mile journey to the south side of the farm to spend the day in their rock forts.  Jim was a favorite cousin because they always had horses and a Shetland pony on the farm. 

Jim graduated from Minico High School in 1971 and went on to pursue an agricultural degree from the College of Southern Idaho.

Jim met Virginia Moser and the two were married on January 28, 1978.  They were married for 43 years.

Jim was employed by Max and Ruth Fife for 25 years on their farms doing various jobs in which he set millions of syphon tubes and spent thousands of hours doing tractor work.  Then, in a time of transition, Jim found a new line of work at the A&B Irrigation district.  He was employed as a ditchrider through the summer and applied his welding skills through the winter to help convert open ditches to pipelines for the next 25 years.  Jim loved his work and all of the farmers on his ride (ride 101) around the city of Minidoka.  Jim retired in September of 2019.  He liked to create crosses out of horseshoes along with a variety of other welding projects.  Anyone who knew Jim knows that he never left a job half done and always did it to the best of his ability.  He would work late hours just to get a task completed and never left a weed in his path.

Jim was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Rupert Idaho since his baptism on September 6, 1953.  He became a communicant member at his confirmation on March 19, 1967. 

Jim was a simple man who enjoyed the simple things in life from horseback rides to pinochle games, old country music, and just plain being silly sometimes.  This earned him the name Jim Bob.

Jim had a special connection with older people.  Jim had a love for fishing, a passion he shared with his uncle Jay Drussel.  There were many summer weekends spent at Lake Cleveland as it was a short drive to fit with a busy summer farm schedule.

Jim’s other love was horses, which he shared with his uncle Richard.  He always enjoyed going on long drives, otherwise known as long cuts, and taking his Uncle Richard to the mountains or through the desert and also to Palisades to see his other uncle, Ray Plocher.  He was an avid rodeo attendee.  He attended all of the area rodeos and enjoyed them immensely.  He was very excited to be able to attend the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas and Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, WY.  He also hoped to attend the Pendleton Roundup and the Calgary Stampede but was unable to do so due to Covid-19 shutdowns.

Jim was often known as a quiet person, but it was just a matter of finding the right subject over a card game or a good vacation and he loved to talk.

The family would like to extend a special thanks to Chris Schenk for all his help over the last year.

Jim is survived by his wife Virginia, son Cody (Julie), grandson Jack Plocher, and daughter Krystal (Colby Bertalotto), sisters Kay McLenna (Santos Llacua) and Ann (Tom) Korpalski, as well as 4 nephews.  He was preceded in death by his parents and ten aunts and uncles.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation at www.parkinson.org.

Funeral Services will be held Thursday, February 18, 2021.  There will be a graveside service at Rupert M-A-R Cemetery at 10:00 AM followed by a memorial service at Trinity Lutheran Church (909 8th St. in Rupert) at 11:00 AM.  A viewing will be held for family and friends from 5-7 PM on Wednesday, February 17th at Hansen Mortuary in Rupert.  Arrangements are under the direction of Joel Heward Hansen Mortuary.

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