Edward Culver McKim

IDAHO FALLS – Edward Culver McKim, 93, of Idaho Falls, and formerly of Heyburn, passed away Friday, March 6, 2020, at his home in Idaho Falls.

Known as “Culver” by his parents’ family, “Mac” by his college friends and wife’s family, and “Ed” by everyone else, he was born in Carbonado, Wash., on April 26, 1926, the son of James and Margaret Culver (McLean) McKim. The family was raised in the Episcopal faith. He lived briefly in Los Angeles, Calif., and Jerome, Ariz., before spending most of his childhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, where his father worked as mine safety inspector for the USGS Bureau of Mines; he later moved to McAlester, Okla., and then to Miami, Okla., where he graduated from high school in 1943. It was there that he started gardening and raising livestock. After high school he lived in Hiawatha, Utah, where his father was the mine superintendent, and, Ed attended Carbon College in Price, Utah, followed by a year at the University of Utah, before transferring to Colorado A & M (now CSU) in Fort Collins, Colo. It was there that he met his future wife, Marilyn Margaret Wheeler, through her brothers and his fellow students, Bob and Bill, and had his future father-in-law as one of his professors.

After graduation in 1949, having earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Nutrition, he moved to a small ranch in western Colorado near Cedaredge where he lived in a tent the first summer, a log cabin the first winter, and began building a house with one power drill and three handsaws. He and Marilyn were married on June 3, 1950, at the Presbyterian Church in Ft. Collins and began their family and life together on the ranch (Marilyn’s condition was that she wouldn’t move there unless she had an electric stove).

Their three daughters, Marilyn, Julie and Chris, and one son, James (Jim), were born in nearby Delta. Ed grew hay, raised livestock, and worked in an auto garage, all the while continuing to work on the house. Upon realizing they would never have enough water to irrigate adequately, they packed up the family in the spring of 1957, headed northwest toward Washington State, stopping in Rupert, Idaho, “because the farms looked really good there and there was a big river.”

He worked as a mechanic for Trevino and Johnson, the Allis-Chalmers dealer, in Rupert, until the end of harvest season. He then found a job with Stephenson’s, a pump and furnace company, in Burley. There, he learned that trade and taught himself how to rewind electric motors, becoming shop foreman. The same year the family moved to a small farm in the Emerson District on the west bank of the Snake River, where he and his wife raised their children and lived for 58 years.

He launched his own business, McKim Motor Service, in 1970 with a novel mobile shop in a pickup camper and a converted farm outbuilding, working from home because “that is where my family is,” and avoiding drop-in “customers” who just wanted to talk. Ed owned and operated that business for many years, gradually phasing into retirement after selling the business, while continuing to work on special jobs he really liked or that no one else knew how to do. He could fix or repair anything, always with a smile and remaining calm.

Ed played the coronet and the Sousaphone in the high school band, and the guitar, banjo, mandolin, and piano. He taught his children how to play, and he enjoyed playing with a local band. Ed attended First Presbyterian Church in Burley, with family. He enjoyed starting seeds in the greenhouse to grow vegetable and flower gardens. He supported St. Jude’s Children Hospital and education, CSU, ISU and University of Idaho.

In 2015, Ed and Marilyn moved to Idaho Falls to be near their daughter. His wife passed away in 2017.

He is survived by his daughters, Marilyn Culp (Bruce) of Idaho Falls, and Julie Ann Torman (Howard) of Alpine Meadows, Calif.; son, James McKim (Linda) of Escondido, Calif.; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

In addition to his wife, Marilyn, he was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Elizabeth Peterson and Sue Schnaufer; and a daughter, Claire Christine McKim.

We give thanks and gratitude to the Visiting Angels of Eastern Idaho and to Brio Home Health & Hospice for their loving care, and to Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home and First Presbyterian Church for their kind services.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be given to First Presbyterian Church of Burley, friends of Idaho Public Television, Idaho Commission for the Blind, Colorado State University, Idaho State University, or University of Idaho, McKim family endowments.

Friends may visit at Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, from 9:30 until 10:30 a.m. Thursday, March 12. Immediately following will be a graveside service at 11 a.m. at Paul Cemetery, 550 W. 100 N., of Paul.