Rankin remembered

In North Idaho, Ron Rankin was famous for the outspoken manner in which he championed conservative political causes.

On Saturday, he was remembered as a grandfather and church member with a “soft and gentle side.”

Rankin died Tuesday at the age of 75, several weeks after going into the hospital for a double bypass operation.

Rankin, a former Kootenai County commissioner and anti-tax adherent, loved the media spotlight and never shied away from sharing his opinion – even when it was unpopular or controversial.

On Saturday friends and family celebrated Rankin’s private life. For all of Rankin’s love of politics and public life, most important to him were family and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said daughter Kerri Thoreson. Rankin and his wife, Alice “Mimi” Rankin, raised five children. They also have 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

“He had a very soft and gentle side and we all knew it very well,” his daughter, Janna Scharf, said after a graveside ceremony.

A Marine who fought in World War II and Korea, Rankin was buried with full military honors at the Forest Cemetery in Coeur d’Alene.

At the funeral service, Scharf listed favorite family memories:

Rankin loved to paint his granddaughters’ toenails fire engine red.

He would throw change in the pool for the kids to dive in and retrieve. He spent afternoons shooting guns with his grandsons.

He would read Dr. Seuss books masterfully, mimicking the characters’ voices.

For many years he drove a 1975 Lincoln Town Car, which had the license plate VOX POP. It meant vox populi – voice of the people. Friend Robert Hough referred to the Lincoln as Rankin’s staff car, and said the license plate was used to start political conversations with strangers.

Rankin moved his family to Coeur d’Alene from California in 1965. After having run unsuccessfully for a variety of offices – including governor – Rankin was elected Kootenai County commissioner in 1996.

Yet his influence on politics often reached far beyond the county limits. Rankin spearheaded efforts to get the 1 percent property tax initiative on the state ballot.

Idaho voters rejected the measures that would have limited government to a 1 percent property tax increase.

Many of Rankin’s causes were controversial. He opposed bond levies to build schools and a community center. While county commissioner, he successfully proposed having English made the official language of Kootenai County.

He also worked tirelessly to create the Kootenai County veterans memorial. Rankin called his work on the memorial his legacy.

Fellow U.S. Marine Rick Seward fought, like Rankin, in the epic battle at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. Seward met Rankin soon after moving to Coeur d’Alene in 1995, as they were both members of the Chosin Few, a group of veterans who had participated in the battle.

The two men were like-minded in their philosophies, attitudes and thoughts, Seward said. They also liked to try and one-up each other when telling tall tales.

Rankin lived the Marine Corps motto of “Semper Fidelis,” Latin for “always faithful.”