Craig Von Reynolds

On the morning of May 16, 2025, Craig Von Reynolds passed away at his home. He was 76.

Craig was born July 15, 1948 to Von Earl Reynolds and Ireva Christine Sainsbury in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he spent his first eight years. His sister, Juliene, and his brother, Kent, were also born during their years in Twin Falls. He loved playing on the propane tank in spite of his mother’s protests. He had a number of friends but he often was content to play alone. His family moved to Pocatello in 1956. His youngest sister, Noreen, was born there. He discovered that students in Pocatello had already learned to read and write cursive and he had not had that exposure in Twin Falls. He learned to write by imitating the writing on the ABC cards posted in the classroom. He often received compliments on his beautiful, legible script.

His family was very involved in the ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to which they belonged. His mother wrote many programs and his parents were in charge of many dances, so of course, Craig, and Juliene were conscripted to participate. Craig typically did not enjoy that.

Playing on the swing set in the backyard, riding his bike, playing touch football with the neighborhood gang, Cub Scouts and later Scouting occupied his time. A look at a scrapbook he made as a Cub Scout reveals he was interested in airplanes and tanks and cars even as a boy. The neighborhood gang often played “Kick the Can,” marbles, “Hide and Seek,” and flag football.

He had memories of trips to California to visit an aunt and going to Disneyland and also many camping trips in the area of Island Park.

In Junior High, he learned to play the clarinet, but must have had a secret desire to be a drummer, because he was fascinated with the rhythmic drumming in popular music. He continued in band through high school and graduated from Pocatello High School in 1966. He enjoyed building models: cars and tanks but especially airplanes.

He had the once-in-a lifetime- experience of going to a National Scout Jamboree in Colorado. The scouts in his troop saw an escalator for the first time on a trip into town. The result was some horseplay which ended up in Craig getting his elbow pinched between the stairs of the escalator. His leaders were not happy with that. When it healed, it looked much like a bullet wound and he referred to it that way ever after.

Kent shared that he really looked up to Craig. Much to their mother’s dismay, Craig taught Kent to drive “aggressively.” Craig was willing to take Kent along when he cruised on Yellowstone. He involved Kent on the Fourth of July when he would use firecrackers to explode his model airplanes, and while Craig was living in Provo one summer, he taught Kent to slime surf in a cement section of an irrigation canal.

Craig also played on his ward softball team. They were good enough to be invited to the Church competition in Salt Lake, but that conflicted with a planned family trip to Disneyland, so he wasn’t able to participate. Early in his marriage, he played softball with his ward and really enjoyed it. He also enjoyed watching city league softball games.

For Christmas one year, he received a guitar. His friends were starting a band and coaxed him to join. He admits he should never have been in the band and that he never practiced. He eventually left the band but couldn’t remember if it was his choice or at the suggestion of the other band members. That band came to be known later as Ars Nova and was in much demand in Pocatello for church and school dances.

After graduating from Pocatello High School in 1966, he went to ISU for one semester, but did not do really well. He was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the North Central States Mission. He spent time in Jamestown, North Dakota; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Minneapolis, Minnesota and Anoka, Minnesota and Watertown, South Dakota. Kent commented that Craig’s example in serving a mission helped him decide to serve a mission.

After his service, he attended Ricks College and Idaho State University, eventually leaving school and working for Sambo’s Restaurant, then Culligan, delivering water softeners and supplies. In August 1975, he began working at Bucyrus Erie in the steel yard. A month later, his Bishop, Roger Porter, who taught at the LDS Institute at ISU, told him about a student whom he thought Craig should meet. Jaylyne Cook had returned home from a mission and about a week after Craig’s conversation with Bishop Porter, she stopped by Bishop Porter’s office in the Institute to say hello. He told her about Craig, describing him as a big marshmallow with a heart of gold. Jaylyne gave consent to share her phone number and a couple of weeks later, Craig called her and asked her out. After that they dated pretty regularly. One night, when she was working late at the ISU library, he came up the stairs near the close of her shift with a red rose. They became engaged in December and were married May 21, 1976 in the Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple. For a long time, he gave her a single red rose on the 21st of every month.

They began their marriage living in a tiny home off the alley on South Third and began getting a small bedroom ready when they learned their first child was on the way. However, his parents approached them with the option of moving into his Grandma Sainsbury’s home on Taft since she had moved in with them because of health concerns. They moved to Taft and welcomed Kirsten, then Andrea just over thirteen months later. Both were joys to Craig and he loved cuddling and napping with them. In January 1979, they purchased a home that serves as the family home to this day. Over the next four years, Elise, Benjamin and Daniel joined the family. Then, as Bucyrus-Erie was closing down operations in their Pocatello plant in 1983, he was laid off. He worked in various jobs, and even became licensed to be an insurance agent, which did not suit him at all. Eventually, he chose to return to school and was on the Dean’s list each semester. He graduated from Idaho State University in May 1988 with a BA degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis in photography. He also graduated from the LDS Institute of Religion during his time at ISU. During these years, Jordan and Sarah joined the family. After graduation, he began working at Deseret Industries and was hired a short time later to supervise the sock project, and later “As Is” goods. He earned his CDL and ended his career at Deseret Industries as a truck driver. When Sarah was nearly six, Richard joined the family.

Whether dog piling with the kids; reciting his version of This Little Piggy, featuring the Barfnagels; stealing noses and putting them back; changing the words of familiar books and changing his voice to represent different characters, time with dad meant fun.

Through the years, a number of the children delivered papers and he helped in the collection of money owed from delinquent subscribers and on holiday deliveries. After DI, he took his turn delivering papers for the Idaho State Journal, but he did not have to deal with customers who did not pay. He celebrated the end of his time as a carrier by burning a ratty newspaper bag at a family reunion.

Besides softball, he also enjoyed guns and reloaded his own ammunition for many years. He continued to make model airplanes and for many years, some 300 of them were displayed from strong cords running from ceiling hook to ceiling hook in the living room and a smaller upstairs room. In his earlier adult years before he was beset by back problems, he had also enjoyed bowling and racquetball. He was an avid fan of Louis L’Amour westerns, John Grisham novels and the Ranger and Brotherband series by John Flanagan. He devoured action films and enjoyed BBC mysteries. Over the years he also developed his skills in photography. He was our family photographer, documenting our honeymoon in Yosemite, camping trips in Rocky Mountain National Park, Island Park, Willow Flats and other wonderful places, and a memorable trip to visit Palmyra, Kirtland, Nauvoo, Carthage and other church history sites in Missouri.

Craig was a supportive father, taking children to the doctor when necessary, attending to injuries of all kinds. Because he understood anxiety from personal experience, he could comfort children as they faced anxious times. Because he had done some foolish things in his teen years, he managed to be patient as our children made mistakes. He enjoyed camping with the family and is part of many happy memories associated with those camping trips. Although unable to go to Parent Teacher conferences, he willingly went to band and choir concerts and to drama productions the children participated in.

The piano bench he made for our home reminds us of his desire that things be solid and enduring. His collection of CD’s remind us of his varied tastes in music from the Tabernacle at Temple Square to Phil Collins, from the Piano Guys to the Beatles and Paul McCartney, from classical music to Michael Jackson.. The roses he brought home every year to mark the anniversaries of their engagement and marriage remind us of his sentimental side. Dad jokes, words like Icki-stewies and blacko- geekits, popcorn and fudge, and photos featuring his wide variety of facial expressions help us recall his sense of fun. We cannot capture his sense of humor in words. His collection of Nativities remind us of his love of the Christmas season. And Symphony bars will always remind us of his love for milk chocolate. (His brownies were brown, but not chocolatey). Nertz and Mormon Bridge will always bring back happy memories of camping trips.

The advance of technology brought on a love-hate relationship. Over the past year, he came to enjoy verifying place names in Family Search, but glitches caused a great deal of frustration.

He served in many callings in the Church. He worked in Scouting as both Scoutmaster and Cubmaster and really enjoyed being Cubmaster. Many Cub Scouts enjoyed his Little Red Riding Hood cape when he awarded Wolf Badges and most pack meetings ended with him donning a Viking helmet and yellow braids because it could never be over until the Fat Lady sang. He braided dozens of lanyards that new Cub Scout Leaders would need to display the theme-related charms given out each month. He taught the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School. He also enjoyed serving in the media Center and strictly observed copyright laws when asked to photocopy music. He and his wife, Jaylyne, served as Church Service Missionaries in the Addiction Recovery Program. When released, he began serving as a Family History Digitization Missionary.

Craig’s hands were large and strong. Children and grandchildren often measured their hands against his. His daughter, Elise, expressed it best, “You have to experience his hands. They were horrible for technology, but perfect for everything else.” His foot was a size 14, so his shoes were enormous and children relished walking in his shoes.

He also had a large challenge as he began to deal with anxiety in adolescence, at a time when no one talked about depression and anxiety. His long struggle with anxiety and depression enabled him to empathize with some of our children in their times of anxiety and depression.

These problems and other health problems, among them a tremor in his hands, slowly diminished his ability to do many things which he enjoyed. Anxiety often caused struggles with self- esteem and matters of faith, but he had blessed moments when he could recognize he was a son of a loving Father in Heaven and express gratitude for Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement. He showed his faith by continuing to participate in the Church, even when he couldn’t feel the fruits of faithfulness. In conversing with the hospice social worker, he bore his testimony that he could face death because he knew Jesus Christ was our Savior and that because of Him, we would be resurrected. Through his struggles, he had learned to repent; he had learned to eventually pick up the pieces and continue when he made mistakes.

He is survived by his wife, Jaylyne, by their children Kirsten (Hugo) DeCampos, Andrea (Travis) Thomas, Elise Reynolds, Benjamin (Julie) Reynolds, Daniel (Crystal) Reynolds, Jordan (Janneece) Reynolds, Richard (Courtney) Reynolds and Sarah Zeidler; by his siblings Juliene (LaVell) Miller, Kent (Melanie) Reynolds, Noreen (Darrell) Wilde, twenty-five grandchildren: Hannah Faith (Braden) Nielsen; Leila, Hugo Von, Natalie, Joshua and Theo DeCampos; Elizabeth (Matthew) Miwa, Catherine (Kenny) Applegate; Katelyn, Rebecca, Emmaleigh, Edie, August, Nathan, and Michael Thomas; James and Sierra Reynolds; Eric, Marc, Zachary and Lily Reynolds; Hannah Celeste, Chester, Jennifer, and Russell Reynolds,and two great grandchildren, Abigail and Bjorn Nielsen, and numerous nieces and nephews.

We express heartfelt thanks to Espy and Paula and other angels from Comfort Home Care and Enhabit Home Health and Hospice, to extended family and loving friends and neighbors.

Please consider a donation to the charity of your choice in lieu of flowers. Those wishing to leave remembrances of Craig for his family to enjoy can do so by using this link: Memories of Craig Von Reynolds.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 2 pm at Mountain View Cemetery, 1520 S. 5th Ave. Pocatello, ID 83204.

Memories and condolences may be shared using the guestbook below.