David Roger Doten

On the 19th day of November David Roger Doten joined his savoir and lord in heaven. Born of unknown parents, David claimed he was left on the doorstep of his adoptive parents, Roger Dolf Doten and Mollie Burton Doten in Evanston Illinois. He took the 18th of July as his birthday and grew up in the greater Chicago area. He attended Evanston High School and later went on to earn is bachelor’s degree from Ripon College in Wisconsin, and then returned home to complete his master’s degree in Social Work at the University of Chicago. Upon graduation Dave enlisted in the military as an officer and served for eight years in the army’s psychological warfare division. Dave received an Honorable discharge from the army in 1968 and returned to the Chicago area to begin a lifelong career in the field of mental health. Dave married Patricia and fathered two children during this time, Karen, and Kevin Doten.

Dave divorced sometime in the mid seventies and migrated to Idaho following his career in mental health and law enforcement, as he served with the Ada County and Bonneville County Sheriff’s offices as a reserve officer and mental health consultant for most of the rest of his life. As Dave settled in the Idaho Falls area he took in many troubled young men and helped to transition these youths into adulthood. He took a second wife in the spring of 1981, Jerelyn Smellie of Tetonia Idaho. Dave and Jerelyn shared many happy years together raising several more wayward boys and adopting Timothy Doten and Richard Dean Doten.

Dave and Jerelyn moved to the island of Hawaii in 1986 as they had spent so many wonderful vacations there, but divorced in 1988, both returning to Idaho to again restart their lives. Dave continued his work with law enforcement through the Bonneville County Jail and began working at the Behavioral Health Center as a clinician and therapy provider. Dave retired in 1999 after an accident in the home. After a lengthy recovery he returned to a normal life several years later, always maintaining a strong relationship with Good Samaritan Skilled Nursing Facility, and his newfound house of worship, Gethsemane Baptist Church.

As Dave continued his recovery, he met many new friends and regularly preached the gospel at Good Samaritan when he could. Dave and his good friend Bob Duvalt spent much of Dave’s golden years in the service of the lord and their communities by organizing and participating in various prayer meetings and chemical dependence recovery groups. Dave was a lifelong servant of the Idaho Falls community and he will be dearly missed by many of its members. A memorial service will be conducted at a time more conducive for the large gathering that Dave remembrance will surely induce.