Louie W. Attebery

 Louie W. Attebery was born on a small farm on Monroe Creek, above Weiser, Idaho, on Aug. 14, 1927, to John Thomas (Tom) and Tressie Blevins Attebery. 

 The farm had no electricity and no telephone; haying and other work was done by hand or with horses. 

 Louie and his older siblings Jim, Lois, and Bob attended the one-room District 26 school from first through eighth grade. 

 After his parents’ divorce, Louie moved to Boise with his mother and attended Boise High School for two years before returning to Weiser to graduate in 1945, just before the end of World War II. 

 He enlisted in the Navy as soon as he was eligible and after he was discharged, came home to enroll at The College of Idaho, which he was able to afford with the aid of the GI Bill and many summer and part-time jobs.

 At the College, he met Barbara Olson, a senior music major from Payette. They married in 1947, midway through his sophomore year, and celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary before her death in 2022. 

 After graduating, Louie taught high school in Middleton and Payette, Idaho, before enrolling at the University of Montana for a Master’s Degree in English, which he completed in 1951. He then taught at Nyssa, Ore., where Barbara taught piano. 

 With their two children Bobby and Brian, they moved to Denver, Colo., in 1954, so that Louie could begin work on a doctoral degree at the University of Denver while also teaching at East High School full-time. 

 Teachers’ salaries being barely enough to live on at the time, Louie also worked part-time at a department store while Barbara maintained a piano studio, played organ for the Congregational Church, and taught as a substitute teacher. 

 He completed his doctorate in 1961, writing his dissertation on the folklore of the lower Snake River Valley in Idaho and eastern Oregon. 

 When in the fall of 1961 a job opened up in the English Department at The College of Idaho, the family returned to Caldwell.

 At the College, Louie was a popular and demanding teacher, specializing in American literature and folklore. He also began to make an impact as a scholar. 

 With a grant from the Coe Foundation, he developed and taught a Summer Institute in American Studies for teachers. He published one of the first articles on urban legends and wrote chapters on Western writers A.B. Guthrie and Vardis Fisher as well as editing the book Idaho Folklife: Homesteads to Headstones with co-editor Sandy Rikoon. He also edited the scholarly journal Northwest Folklore. 

 During a sabbatical year in 1971-72, he and Barbara lived in England, where he was Bruern Fellow in American Literature at the University of Leeds. His research continued after his retirement in 1998, and he eventually wrote and published a biography of Idaho billionaire J.R. Simplot, another biography of merchant and C of I President Robert Hendren, histories of The College of Idaho and the Caldwell Methodist Church, and a study of traditional sheep-ranching methods in central Idaho called Sheep May Safely Graze. His final book was a memoir titled Monroe Creek to the World: A Life in Letters, published by Caxton Printers.

 Louie’s connection with The College of Idaho began when his older brother Jim attended in the 1930s and continued throughout his life. He was not only an alumnus and faculty member but also a department chair, one of the creators of the Snake River Valley Regional Studies Center, holder of the Eyck-Beringer Chair in English, acting Provost, sourdough pancake provider for incoming freshmen at their retreat in the Sawtooth Mountains, member of the Board of Trustees, and general ambassador, recruiter, and fundraiser. In 2024, a generous former student endowed a professorship in his honor.

 He is survived by his two children Bobby Attebery Nelson and Brian Attebery and their spouses Ron Nelson and Jennifer Eastman Attebery, as well as grandchildren Casey Heagerty and wife Cyriel, Lauren Heagerty and husband Ghan Patel, Stina Attebery and partner Joshua Pearson, Jess Attebery, and great-grandchild Margot Heagerty.

 A memorial celebration for Louie W. Attebery will be held at the Langroise Center of The College of Idaho on Nov. 9, at 3:30 p.m., followed by a reception in Simplot South Dining Hall. Donations in his memory may be given to the Attebery Family Scholarship Fund at the College.