Dr. James Homer Ferguson
Ferguson 85
Dr. James Homer Ferguson 85, of Ahsahka, Idaho, died on April 24, 2022 in his home. He was born on July 24, 1936 in San Antonio to Haynes Morgan Ferguson and Mary Alice Ferguson.
He is survived by his widow Gloria Ferguson, sister Becky (Joe Danchak), children Dr. J. Scott (Dr. Lisa Kaufman) Ferguson, Jennifer (Michael) Hill, Dr. Eliza (Dasul) Jeong and Will Ferguson, grandchildren Maggie Ferguson, Emma Ferguson, John Ferguson, Jessie Hill and Logan Jeong.
Homer began a love of music in his early teens when his grandmother Eliza Ferguson gave him his uncle Homer’s fiddle. He was self-taught on both the fiddle and guitar and enjoyed playing his favorite western pieces including “The Strawberry Roan and “Big Red”.
Upon graduation from high school, he then received his Ph.D from the University of Arizona in Physiology and postdoctoral work at the University of Iowa. He moved to Moscow, Indiana and taught in the Department of Biological Sciences and the WWAMI program at the University of Idaho. He was involved in research and worked with the Inuit people of Barrow, Alaska at the Naval Arctic Research Lab. He published much of his research and authored a textbook on Mammalian Physiology.
In the early 1970’s, he moved to San Antonio to become head of the new Earth and Sciences Department at the University Texas at San Antonio. Homer changed professions and received an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. He took a position with the Lewiston Police Department and later worked for the state highway patrol and Orofino Police Department.
Homer was also a member of the Frio Lodge #399, was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and was also a Master Mason.
In 1959, he married Shelia Cone and they had two children, John Scott and Jennifer Lynne. In 1976,
Homer was later married to Carolyn Hawley and had two children, Eliza Jeanne and Will Morgan.
Homer married Gloria McDougall in 2015. He spent his final years with a heart condition.
Funeral services will be on Monday, June 27 at the Hurley Funeral Home in Pearsall at 10 a.m.
