Jan. 13, 1926 April 1, 2010
Walter (Joe) Driscoll was born to Walter P. Driscoll and Jennie Halverson Driscoll at the family farm six miles south of Troy on Jan. 13, 1926. He was the youngest of four children. He spent his early years going to the one-room schoolhouse on Driscoll Ridge, near Troy. After grade school, he attended Moscow High School. While in high school he was very involved in school activities. He was the junior class president and during senior year was student body vice-president. He was also active in sports, having been a member of both the basketball and football teams. His senior year, he was voted team captain for football and was on the all-conference football team.
After high school, he attended the University of Idaho for one semester and was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. However, in 1944, just before he turned 18, Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and served during the remainder of World War II as a flight radio operator. He was discharged in the spring of 1946.
That fall, he again returned to the University of Idaho for two more years before joining with his brother Jim to work the family farm. Joe worked the farm for 13 years.
While on the farm, he met and married Inez Nilson, and they had two sons, Don Driscoll and Tony Driscoll. In 1962, the couple left the farm and bought an interest in Leisure Lanes Bowling in Pullman. In 1967, they sold the bowling business and he went into the sales field, where he remained for the rest of his working years.
In 1970, they moved back to Moscow. He was divorced in 1977, and never remarried. During the next few years, he lived in Tacoma, Spokane and Portland, Ore., before settling down in Federal Way, Wash., for 20-plus years. He moved to Tacoma to be closer to Tony and his family, with Sean and Caiti being his only grandchildren.
He enjoyed going to family gatherings, baseball games with Tony, and taking trips to Spokane to spend time with Don and his wife on their farm.
He is survived by his sister, Jean Dinsmore of Spokane; his sons, Don and wife Belinda of Deer Park, Wash, and Tony and wife Tami, and their two children Sean and Caitlin of Fircrest, Wash. He is also survived by his many cherished friends in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, where he was a member for 33 years. He considered the men he met and conversed with over the years to be like family to him.
He was preceded in death by his sister Maxine Fisk and brother Jim Driscoll.
He truly will be missed by all who knew him.
