W. Joe Anderson

Warren Joseph Anderson October 8, 1923 - July 29, 2002 Warren Joseph Anderson was born in Hansen, Idaho, to Bessie and Warren Anderson on October 8, 1923. He was the youngest of three children, the only son, and he anticipated farming would be his life even though his father strongly encouraged him to get all the education he could. Joe was athletic and involved in his community and high school, playing football, and boxing at 105 lbs in 1937, “winning about half the time,” he remembered. After graduating from high school in Hansen, Joe enrolled at the University of Idaho and expected he would finish there and return to the family farm after graduation, but his college career was interrupted by the draft in 1943. Shortly after his 20th birthday, Joe was in training to become a nose gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber. By his 21st birthday he was en route to Northern England to join up with the 445th Bomb Group. In February of 1945, on his seventh mission, Joe’s bomber was downed on a raid near Halle, Germany and Joe was captured, spending the last months of the war in various prison camps and on a series of forced marches through Germany as the allies drew closer, “a very pleasant walk in better circumstances,” he later recalled. He was liberated a few days before VE day and made his way home; back to his uncle’s farm in Pocatello with plans to postpone the remainder of college, to make his living farming. Early that September, although there was no longer any livestock on the farm, Joe’s uncle had him spend several days tearing down some corral and then several more days rebuilding it in another location only a few feet from the original site. A few days later when this uncle suggested that late registration was still available to veterans, Joe was on the next train toward Seattle and a pre-law course at the University of Washington. While still an undergraduate, he met Trixie Farr of Idaho Falls and they were married in June of 1948 while Joe was in his second year of law school. After completing law school, Joe and Trixie moved to Idaho Falls, where Joe was admitted to the Idaho Bar in 1949, and established a law practice in 1950. In 1959 he was joined by John Sharp and shortly afterwards, Gene Bush to form the law firm of Sharp, Anderson and Bush. Joe was to live in Idaho Falls and practice law in this same firm, now Anderson Nelson Hall Smith, P.A., for the next 50 years. The people and events that brought him here; the appreciation of community he gained in Hansen and in the LDS church; a strong father who valued education; service to his country in WW II; the opportunity of college and then law school on the GI Bill, and most certainly, Trixie, all helped shape this man who lived unstintingly a generous, appreciative, unabashedly patriotic and fully involved life. Laura was the first child born to Trixie and Joe, followed by Linda and Janet, and throughout his life, Joe was an involved father and husband in addition to his activity in his church and his commitment to the law, the business community and his love of the outdoors. Joe was quiet, understated, laconic on a good day, and self-effacing always; his middle daughter, Linda, was well into her teens before a family friend told her of her father’s service in WWII and his ordeal as a prisoner of war, these events never having been mentioned by Joe, nor his medals of the European-African-Middle Eastern Ribbon, two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal and the Prisoner of War Medal. His sense of duty extended to community service in many forms. Joe served a term as the Idaho Commander of the American Ex POW Organization; he did volunteer work for the Small Business Administration’s program, SCORE, and was President of the Kiwanis Club, President of the Idaho Falls Jaycees, and Director of the Bonneville County Red Cross, Salvation Army, Chairman of the Lincoln Day Association, Community Chest, the Idaho Falls Improvement Association, and the Bonneville County Sportsmen’s Association. Joe also has been County Chairman and District Chairman of the Republican Party. Beyond the formal framework of organizations, Joe also quietly provided legal assistance to many over the years who needed services, but could not pay for them. Joe simply didn’t bill these clients. He also gave generously to several universities, as the value of education was as readily apparent to Joe as to his father. Professionally, Joe’s volunteer activities included: a term as President of the Ninth Judicial District Idaho Bar Association; seats on various Idaho State Bar committees; Chair of the Hearing Committee on professional malpractice complaints; Chair of the Law and Practice Committee, and Chair of the Resolutions Committee. He was also a member of the Bar Examination and Grading Committee and the Idaho State University Tax Institute Advisory Committee. Few can recall Joe Anderson offering his advice, for he was reticent to impose his views, but if it was requested, his counsel was thoughtful, intelligent and in the spirit of friendship and generosity. He and Trixie were a complement to each other in all ways important, and theirs was a marriage of 54 years. Joe went through this world with an intellectual curiosity that spanned economics and politics, the law, theology, art, letters, geology and history. He would rarely offer, but if one asked him, invariably he knew a myriad of details about the social and cultural order, regional history and the lives and contributions of the leaders of virtually every place he traveled. Joe Anderson was well loved and well regarded by those of us who knew him, worked with him, fished with him, golfed with him and enjoyed his wisdom. We will miss him. His wife, Trixie, their three daughters, Laura, Linda and Janet, his two sisters, Marjorie and Edith, and four grandchildren survive him. Funeral services will be held at Castlerock Ward, at 260 Castlerock Lane, Idaho Falls, at 11:00 AM on Saturday, August 3rd, 2002. The family will greet friends from 9:30 AM before the service. His family requests that in lieu of flowers, those wishing to remember Joe make a donation to the Idaho Falls Arts Council, or the Bonneville County Historical Society. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery under the direction of Wood Funeral Home. 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