John Michael Deurmeier

John Michael Deurmeier Sr. — Johnny to his parents and siblings, and simply Dad or Grampie to the family he created and helped raise — passed away on October 6, 2026, in Rigby, Idaho. Whenever John walked into a room, that’s when the party really began! His enthusiasm for life will remain an inspiration to everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him, but no room, and no party, will ever feel quite the same without Grampie.

John was born on February 1, 1947, in Waterloo, Iowa, to Eugene and Bernadine Deurmeier. When he was five, his family moved to San Gabriel, California, where he grew up and attended San Gabriel Mission High School. As a young man he made his way north to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and from there, in 1966, he answered his country’s call, serving in the United States Marine Corps through 1968. As Dad always said, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

After the Marines, John found his calling on California’s rangelands. He worked as a ranch hand on beautiful properties across the state and became a skilled horse trainer, specializing in cattle horses for cutting, reining, and cow horse competition. From 1977 to 1978, he held the prestigious position of trainer for Anheuser-Busch’s world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales. He continued training horses through 1991, building a career marked by the same patient, intuitive gift he brought to every animal he loved.

At 44, rather than slow down, John enrolled in trade school in Reno, Nevada, became a certified gaming technician, and spent the next decade with Dynasty Games. He later hauled horses in San Juan Capistrano and worked briefly at Casino Morongo before taking his final position as a building inspector at the Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms, California, from 2005 until his retirement in 2015. It was a fitting close to his working life: nearly four decades after he first enlisted, he was serving the Marines once again.

His life carried him through Pasadena, Mira Loma, Clovis, Virginia City, and San Juan Capistrano before he and his wife, Becky, made their home in Morongo Valley, California. Each place left its mark on him. He came to Rigby, Idaho, only in the last year of his life.

On Valentine’s Day 1982, John married Becky Nelson in Fresno, California, beginning 44 years of marriage. Through Becky, he gained two stepchildren, Morey and Lani, and in Fresno they welcomed their sons, John Jr. (Johnny) and Justin. He loved being a dad, and he was one of the best.

Through all of it, John was the same man: full of joy, quick to laugh, and generous with his hugs. He loved animals with a devotion they seemed to sense, and even animals wary of most people took to him easily. He was the first on the dance floor whenever the music started, and he kept dancing long after most men had sat down for good. If Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was playing somewhere, John was never far away.

But nothing — not the ranches, not the Clydesdales, not the dance floors — mattered to John the way his family did. He was there for every basketball game, every grandchild’s birthday, every recital, and every phone call. He was, in every sense, a devoted husband, father, and grandfather.

Raised in the Catholic faith, John joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1980s. He served as a Boy Scout leader, a mission leader, and later as a counselor in the bishopric of the Yucca Valley Young Single Adult Ward. In the mid-1990s, he and Becky founded the Virginia City Comstock Coyotes 4-H Club and led it together until 2001, instilling in young people the same belief in hard work and possibility that had always guided him.

John is survived by his wife, Becky Deurmeier; his sons, Morey (Susan) Leavitt, John (Krista) Deurmeier Jr., and Justin (Krissa) Deurmeier; his daughter, Lani Leavitt; his brothers, James Deurmeier, Ronald Deurmeier, and Mark Staidl; 11 grandchildren; and 3 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Eugene Deurmeier and Dorothy Bernadine Kingkade.

Funeral Services wil be held Friday, October 16, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (1289 Mount Putnam Dr Blackfoot, Idaho 83221).

Interment will be held Friday, October 16, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. Blackfoot Veterans Cemetery (2651 Cromwell Ln Blackfoot, Idaho 83221).