Francis Waldo Hamilton

Francis Waldo Hamilton died on January 10, 2019 at Lincoln Court in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He was 82.

Waldo was born February 12, 1936 in a Shelley, Idaho farm house. He was the seventh child of James Campbell Green Hamilton and Eliza VaMeryl Jensen Hamilton.

He was always proud of the fact that he was born on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and once wrote a school paper comparing himself to Lincoln in that they were both born in a log cabin.

Waldo attended school in Shelley, graduating from Shelley High in 1954. He served in the West Central States Mission from 1956 to 1958 spending eighteen months in the Black Hills of South Dakota and six months in Shelby, Montana.

He married Joan McKie June 10, 1959 in the Idaho Falls Temple. Wally and Joan have one son, Joseph, who resides in Idaho Falls.

Waldo graduated from Ricks College then from Utah State University in 1963 with a Bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in English. He taught Jr. High English, then two years of seminary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, before going into library science and serving three years as librarian at Murray High School. In the spring of 1968 his Aunt Dora Jensen retired as librarian of Shelley High School and Waldo got her job.

Joan passed away on March 21, 1979. Following her death Waldo married Marilyn Draper Fielding. They were later divorced. On September 26, 1992 he married Elaine Georgeson Smith in the Idaho Falls Temple.

Waldo retired in June of 1998 after serving for thirty years as Shelley High School Librarian. He and his wife Elaine served two missions together for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One, in Macon Georgia, and the other, as directors of the Family History Center in Idaho Falls.

Wally is survived by his loving wife, Elaine Hamilton of Idaho Falls; son Joe (Jackie) Hamilton of Idaho Falls; Kent (Beverly) Hamilton of Albuquerque, New Mexico; 3 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be 11:00 AM Friday, January 18, 2019 at the Shelley First Ward Chapel (184 North Park Ave) with Bishop Randy Lundquist officiating. The family will meet with friends Thursday evening from 6:00 till 7:30 PM at Nalder Funeral Home (110 West Oak) in Shelley and Friday morning from 10:00 AM till 10:40 AM at the church. Burial will be in the Shelley Hillcrest Cemetery.