Jul. 2, 1936 - Jun. 10, 2026
Date of Service: Jun. 16, 2026
Service Program
BURLEY – Jerry E. Vegwert was born in Emmett, Idaho, on July 2, 1936, and passed away on June 9, 2026, his wife Hazel’s birthday. There is a joke in there somewhere. We will leave it up to you to figure out.
Jerry was raised in Nampa, Idaho, where he met the love of his life, Hazel June Beer. They were married on August 28, 1955, and lived a wonderful life together for 71 years. They had three beautiful children, Mark, Christy and Lori. Jerry went to work for the telephone company (Mt. Bell, US West, Quest, etc.) building telephone lines and climbing telephone poles. In 1963 he became the manager for the Weiser Mountain Bell office and then in 1970 the company moved him to Burley to run the Burley office, thence to the Boise corporate offices for a couple of years in 1980 and shortly thereafter to the Denver Headquarters until his retirement with 35 years of service in 1989. Jerry and Hazel then moved back to Burley where Jerry spent two years building their home on the high bank of the river at Springdale.
Jerry loved mechanical things and in the mid-60s built one of the first Meyers Manx dune buggies in Idaho. It was his chukar hunting vehicle extraordinaire. About the same time Jerry discovered he had an artistic side. His sister, Madalene Sabo (Ruidoso, NM), was a professional artist. She put a paintbrush in his hands and low and behold, he could paint. Therein started a 60-year love of creating art with wood and wood turning. One of the final pieces he created had 312 separate distinct pieces of wood in it. There was nothing that he could not do with wood.
He also loved the outdoors. He was a consummate bow, rifle and shotgun hunter, fly fisherman, fly tyer, snow skier, ski instructor, runner (until his knees wore out) and golfer. His son bugled in many a bull for Jerry to shoot at with his bow. Fortunately for the elk, Jerry did not get his buck fever under control until he was almost 70, due to a six-point bull being only 30 yards away. He was a solid athlete and on his 65th birthday he climbed Mt. Borah with his children, Lori and Mark.
He loved people and loved talking to people. He received great satisfaction in helping people and serving the public. He was a past president of the Burley Chamber of Commerce, past president of the Rotary Club, a Burley city councilman, an elder in the Burley First Presbyterian Church, and a volunteer for The United Way. Above all he loved his family, his wife Hazel; his children, Mark (Shelly) Vegwert, Christy Zack and Lori Johnston; his grandchildren, Casey and Jake (Mark and Shelly’s), Jennifer (Christy’s) and Nick and Megan (Lori’s); and with a sense of awe, his great-granddaughter, Evelyn (Casey’s).
The funeral will be held at 2 p.m.Tuesday, June 16, at the Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., Burley. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity in his memory.
