Douglas Arthur Fairchild, 75, of Emmett passed away on Saturday, August 14, 2021. He peacefully passed at home, surrounded by his loving family. Doug was born on January 12, 1946, to Juanita (Ruth) Fairchild and Thomas Arthur Fairchild Jr. Doug has one younger brother Ronald Wayne Fairchild.
Doug was raised in Idaho Falls and graduated from Idaho Falls High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 17 years old. He did his basic training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. He did his Advanced Individual Training in Ft. Bliss, Texas from there he went to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for Jump School and Airborne Ranger Training. He was deployed and served in Italy, Germany and Vietnam. He returned to the United States after serving his country in May 1967.
He married the love of his life, Janice Fairchild on August 7,1970. They were blessed with three children – Tami, Chad and Bradly. Doug worked for Waremart from 1972 to 1981 in Utah, Oregon, and Washington. In 1981, he left Waremart and moved to Pocatello, ID where he worked for Eddy’s Bread. In 1992 Doug and Janice moved to Island Park, ID where he lived/worked his dream job. He started his own auto repair shop. Doug absolutely loved cars. He was an ASE Master Technician, a World Class GM Technician, Certified Polaris Technician, an Automobile Electronics Diagnostician and a MOOG Suspension Technician. While he loved repairing cars, he also liked to build them to go fast. In his mind speed and raw horsepower was the way to go. Doug was a great father, uncle, and role model especially when it came to working on engines of any kind. Doug’s knowledge and expertise of cars, boats, motorcycles, and small engines of any kind is unsurpassed. He loved spending time with his wife, kids, family, and friends working on cars. He enjoyed riding dirt bikes, four wheelers, water skiing, snowmobiling, and playing sports with his family. He took immense pride in everything he did.
Doug was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) in 1983 and was given a terminal diagnosis. Doug sought a new barely known treatment at the time for PSC and traveled to Wisconsin once or twice a year for the next 17 years. Ultimately his liver started to fail so in 2000 Doug and Janice moved to Denver for treatment. On December 18, 2001, his son Chad donated 60% of his liver to his dad in the living donor program at University of Colorado in Denver. Doug remained on anti-rejection medication for the remainder of his life, for almost 20 years.
Doug loved to go to the movies, watch the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos, and going to Mecum auctions. Doug was always enhancing the performance of (or anyone’s) cars or motorcycles. In his retirement, he attended Mecum auctions with his family on numerous occasions. Doug and Jan loved to ride their Harley Davidson motorcycles on long road trips. After Jan retired, they moved to Emmett in August of 2018. Tami and her husband Steve spent several months renovating their new forever home. By 2020 all of the kids relocated to the Treasure Valley. The family got to enjoy going to Firebird to watch the races and going to the range to target shoot.
Doug was a fighter and had the strongest will to live. He spent 38 years battling PSC, Ulcerative Colitis, prostate cancer survivor, numerous other illnesses alongside his amazing caregiver and best friend, Janice. He was such a unique person. We will forever miss him, and his legacy will live on. We love you Dad.
He is survived by his wife Janice Fairchild, his three children Tami (Steve) John of Star; Chad (Teri) Fairchild, of Nampa; Brad (Dana) Fairchild, of Middleton and brother, Ron (Kay Lynn) Fairchild, of Pocatello. Six grandchildren, Nicole, Conner, Caden, Bianca, Caleb and Gianna. He is preceded in death by his parents Thomas Arthur Fairchild Sr and Juanita Ruth Fairchild.
Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, August 21, 2021 at the Potter Funeral Chapel in Emmett, Idaho.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Douglas A. Fairchild, please visit our floral store.