Forrest Lee Hamilton Sr., 62, of Baker City, died May 4, 2005, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise.
His funeral will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Keith Long will officiate. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery.
Visitations will be until 8 o’clock tonight at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel.
Forrest was born on June 1, 1942, at Dexter, Mo., to Howard Houston Hamilton and Dorothy Earlees Irvin. He was raised by his dad, Antero “Terry” Banes.
He attended school at Earlimart, Calif., and joined the U.S. Navy Reserves in 1959. Forrest graduated from Delano High School in 1961 and joined the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1961.
He transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard on July 1, 1972, as a flight engineer and A/E electrician for the C-130s. He retired from the USCG on Aug. 30, 1982.
He married Carolyn Dixon Boesch on May 9, 1992.
Forrest was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He loved the outdoors, and hunting and shooting were his passions.
He supported and helped everyone he met. He loved his family and especially his grandchildren.
Survivors include his wife, Carolyn; stepson, Devan Boesch, and wife, Melissa, of Baker City; step-daughter, Kellie Blair, and her husband, Jon, of Redmond; son, Forrest L. “Chip” Hamilton Jr. of Bremerton, Wash.; daughter, Don Jean Hamilton of Grand Rapids, Mich.; brothers, Bill Hamilton and his wife, Anna, of South Carolina, Terry Joe Banes and his wife, Donna, of Porterville, Calif., Ron Banes and his wife, Kandy, of Kennewick, Wash., and Tommy Banes and his wife, Dorothy, of Claremore, Okla.; sisters, Donna Hatfield and her husband, Bill, of Porterville, Calif., Earlees Hamilton of Porterville, Calif., Ann Hurley and her husband, Richard, of Baker City, and Mary Lee Hall and her husband, Jerry, of Wasilla, Alaska; three grandchildren, Alexander Boesch Blair and Nickolas Jon Blair of Redmond and Josalyn Rani Boesch of Baker City; 21 nieces and nephews; and numerous cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Antero and Dorothy Banes; and two brothers, Gene and Jimmy Hamilton.
Memorial contributions may be made to the family to help with services or to the Disabled Veterans of America through Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, May 13, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor