This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Thomsen, Skinner, Aina Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hd.2ADI/1684 Message Board Post: Idaho State Journal, 06/06/06 SODA SPRINGS — Taft Junior Thomsen, 77, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at the Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello on Friday, June 2, 2006, due to complications of an abdominal arterial aneurysm. Taft was the sixth of nine children of Peter and Harriet Skinner Thomsen, born on August 14, 1928, in a cabin in Eight Mile, Bear Lake County (near Soda Springs), Idaho. He married Puakina Leilehua Aina of Hilo, Hawaii, on December 24, 1949, at Hilo, Hawaii. Their marriage was later solemnized on October 29, 1951, in the Logan, Utah temple. He is survived by their four children, Kathleen Norman (Gary), of Soda Springs, Taft J. Thomsen II, of Afton, Wyoming, Julia Ann Nalani Murray (Rollie), of Pocatello, and Jonathan Scott Thomsen (April), of Providence, Utah. They have 16 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters, Mary Jane Jenkins, of Orem, Utah, and Mellie Humphreys, of Soda Springs; and his brothers, Alfred Thomsen, of Rupert, and Macks Thomsen, of Battle Mountain, Nev. Taft entered the Navy in September 1948, and retired on August 25, 1970, as an E-7 Chief Petty Officer, shipfitter. He moved back to his hometown of Soda Springs and started working for J.R. Simplot in October 1970, and retired in 1985 as a maintenance foreman. From 1973-1976, he served as a member of District 150 Soda Springs school board. In his retirement years, he and Pua served as ordinance workers in the Logan temple for four years. They went on one proselytizing mission to Kauai, Hawaii, and three temple missions in Chicago, Ill., Orlando, Fla., and Washington, D.C. He had served in bishoprics, a Young Men’s presidency, a Sunday school presidency, in elder’s quorum presidencies and high priest’s group leader. At the time of his passing he was a family history specialist. The delight of his life was serving in the LDS Church. He will be greatly missed in the Soda Springs community because of his friendliness and service. His family appreciates his example of service, work ethic, and diligence and faithfulness in his church and community. He was a simple and common man, but a giant in spirit. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Ingeburg West. There will be a viewing on Friday, June 9, 2006, at the Sims Funeral Home, 139 E. Second South, from 7 to 8 p.m. Funeral services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 10, 2006, at the Soda Springs, Idaho, stake center at 290 S. Third West, with a viewing from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Relief Society room. Burial will be at the Fairview Cemetery. Services are under the direction of the Sims Funeral Home.