Dr. Lilburn Wesche Obituary Dr. Lilburn E. Wesche of Boise concluded his sojourn on earth on April 28, 2024 after a brief illness. Dr. Wesche was born November 21, 1929 in Taming, China, son of missionary parents, Rev. Kenneth and Pearl Wesche. His family left China in 1940 and during the war they lived in Wilmore, Kentucky where Lilburn attended Wilmore schools and his father taught at Asbury Seminary. When the war ended and his parents returned to China. Lilburn moved to Nampa for his senior year of high school and then attended Northwest Nazarene College, graduating in 1951. There he met Esther Rinker and it was love at first sight. They were married in 1953 in Hastings, Nebraska. Lilburn enlisted in the US Army in 1952 and was assigned to the Signal Corps. He was stationed first at San Luis Obispo, CA and later at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. He advanced to the rank of sergeant receiving a meritorious promotion while serving as a reporter for Stars and Stripes and as information officer for the 321st Signal Base depot. Upon separation from the military he completed his Masters degree in Educational Administration at Trinity University in San Antonio then accepted a teaching, counseling and coaching assignment at Hill City, Kansas High School. In 1957 the family moved to Meridian where he was principal of the newly created middle school. At the same time he pursued a doctorate in Educational administration and Curriculum at the University of Northern Colorado completing the degree in 1961. That year he was invited to join the faculty at Northwest Nazarene College as Director of Teacher Education and Division Chair of Professional studies. Under his leadership NNC received national accreditation for Teacher Education and national recognition for the quality of its program. In 1981 he accepted an administrative position at Seattle Pacific University then returned to the faculty at NNU in 1988 as Director of Graduate Studies and, in 1993 was Academic Vice President Active in his profession, Dr Wesche pursued post-doctoral studies at UCLA, San Jose State, the University of Colorado-Denver, and the University of Cincinnati. He was president of the Idaho Education Association in 1963 and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Education association from 1964 to 1970. He also served on the IEA executive board for 18 years. He was a member of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) review board and chaired over 40 accreditation teams reviewing university teacher education programs throughout the United States. He was listed in Who's Who in Education and was a life member of the education fraternity, Phi Delta Kappa, serving as president of the Seattle University chapter and the Southwest Idaho chapter. He also chaired the Idaho Association of Teacher Educators, was a member and vice chair of the Idaho Professional Standards Commission, and was an evaluator of secondary schools, prison schools and special programs for the United States Department of Education and the Idaho Department of Education. In college he was active beyond the classroom, coaching grade school soccer and basketball and the college JV basketball team, serving as play-by-play sports announcer for the campus radio station, sports editor and editor of the college newspaper while also working for the local daily newspaper as sports reporter. As a college professor, parent and grandparent, he coached his son's and a grandson's little league and Babe Ruth baseball teams. An active Christian he was a member of numerous church councils and committees, taught adult and teen Sunday school and education classes in churches they attended in Nampa, Boise and Seattle and was a founding member of Epworth Chapel on the Green in Boise. He is preceded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Pearl Wesche, his second mother, Agnes, and four brothers: Paul, Robert, David and Daniel; He is survived by his wife, Esther Rinker Wesche, three children, Kenneth (Nancy) of Minneapolis, Cheryl Childs (Kenton) of Albuquerque, NM; and Barbara of Boise; ten grandchildren: Christofer Bellomy, Christina (Emanuel) Sas, Bradley Childs, Robert (Leila) Childs, Kayla Anderson, and Sam Anderson, Sean Wesche (Rachel), Mark Wesche(Nadia), Nicholas Wesche (Jocelyn), and Katie Jubran (Jerry); and 16 great grandchildren: Corbin and Jayden Bellomy, Olympia, Damian and Lucia, Gabriel Sas, Michael and Sullivan Childs, Ivy and Maeve Lilywhite, Henry, George, John Lafayette. Luke, Benjamin and Noah, and Sebastian and Cyprian Wesche. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 8, at 10:00am in the Nampa Funeral Home, Yraguen Chapel. Burial will follow at the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, Caldwell. The service will be live streamed and the link for that is: https://my.gather.app/remember/dr-lilburn-e-wesche Services Celebration of Life Wednesday May 8, 2024 10:00 AM Nampa Funeral Home 415 12th Ave. So. Nampa, Idaho 83651