John Wallace, a Caribou County original

Recently, we had the opportunity to hear some information about Johnny Wallace, one of Soda Springs prominent residents during the 1900's from Jerry Stoor. Many of you may remember Mr. Wallace as I do. I remember my father taking me to the bank he was working at, to start a savings account when I was just a pup. Later on I was able to get a loan on a car from him. Some of you may not remember him, so below is some of the information that Jerry provided. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and it brought back many memories. I had no idea of these facts.

Johnny Wallace:

John O Wallace was born on September 14, 1896, as Dumas, Mississippi, to William Eason Wallace and Sallie Elizabeth Neighbors.

In 1917 when he was twenty, Wallace met a man in his Mississippi hometown who had been visiting in Soda Springs, Idaho for health reasons. The man decided he didn't want to use his round-trip ticket to return to Soda Springs before February 1, when the ticket expired. Wallace purchased the ticket on credit.

He arrived in Soda Springs young, broke and anxious to find a job. Despite his youth, he worked for the "Ping Pong Railroad", working nights, 12-hour shifts a day, seven days a week. This railroad ran a short trip from Montpelier to Paris, ID and back. Probably how it got the name Ping Pong.

One day a physician in Soda Springs offered to help Wallace get a job in a drug store if he was interested. This job paid a handsome $90 a month.  Always eager to better this position, Wallace took the job in the Rexall Drug Store where he worked for a year and a half until he entered the military in World War I.

"Johnny" Wallace served in Company I, regiment 57 during the war. Upon his return to Soda Springs, he was offered a job in the Rexall Drug Store by Jack Minty, the owner. Before he accepted, however, he learned that Mr. Eastman, and elderly man in his nineties, was trying to sell the competing Eastman Drug Store, which was located at the Enders Hotel, for $3000. Wallace visited a bank and persuaded them to finance his purchase. 

 Now Wallace found himself in the position of needing to hire a pharmacist to dispense prescriptions, an expense he could barely afford. He learned of a three-year pharmacy school in Michigan, and decided to attend so that he could eventually reduce costs by serving as his own pharmacist. Dr. Ellis Kackley, a pioneer Soda Springs physician, agreed to loan Wallace the money he needed for school. After three years of diligent study, he took the exam and was delighted to learn that he had passed, one of the few students in his class to do so. He returned to Soda Springs and went to work to pay his bills.

"In my mind, Dr Kackley was a real man," Wallace said. " I was just a kid, and didn't have any credit, but whenever I needed money, he'd loan it to me." During his lifetime, Wallace often loaned his own money to others he believed in. Wallace paid Dr Kackley all of the money that he owed him, and in addition to the drug store, he soon purchased a ranch and a herd of sheep in Henry, ID. 

Mr. Ralph Gorton, Wallace's nephew tells, " A banker once advised John to take a dime out of the till every night and put it into a jar, then at the end of each month, bring it down to the bank. John followed the advice and soon had enough to buy a duplex in Pocatello. Later he sold it and put the money in CDs."

John married Esther Lau in 1931. They did not have any children and because of his deep interest in the establishment of a College of Pharmacy in Pocatello, he provided encouragement and support.

Thirty years to the day after he purchased the Eastman Drug Store, Wallace sold it to Lowe Brothers and began work at the Largilliere's Bank in Soda Springs, This bank was located on the corner where the Soda Springs City Hall is currently located. Wallace worked at the Largiliere Bank for the next 15 years. He also continued in his successful sheep and ranching business for thirty-nine years.

John and Esther were members of the Presbyterian Church. He was active in community and regional affairs.(If my memory is correct, John was a member of the local Lion's Club) They enjoyed traveling, including trips to Hawaii and occasional trips back to Mississippi to visit his family

"Whenever John saved money, he invested it, usually in blue chip stocks or tax-free bonds. His philosophy on investing was that you buy good stocks and never sell them.

Esther Wallace preceded him in death on April, 17, 1985. By the time Johnny passed away, he had become a self made millionaire through his hard work and wise investing. Wallace's estate provided for the establishment of two major funds at Idaho State University, the John and Esther Wallace Scholarship Endowment Fund for scholarships for students attending Idaho State University, and the larger John and Esther Wallace Endowment Fund for the College of Pharmacy at ISU. In addition to the two gifts to ISU, the Wallace estate included a gift of another $4 million to the Mountain States Tumor Institute in Boise, ID.

Wallace kept his home in Soda Springs for the rest of his life, and died on January 30, 1990, in the Capital Care Center in Boise, ID at the age of 93. Before he passed, Wallace set aside $5000,000 of his estate to create a general scholarship endowment to help all ISU students. 

Attached are three photos of Johnny Wallace, one of him in the Eastman Drug Store, one of he and Esther and one of him later in his life.

It is the plans of the Caribou Historical Society to try and have information like this provided at each of our monthly meetings. If you have any fond memories of Johnny Wallace, please send them to Bill Horsley, Jerry Stoor or myself. Also please let us know if you have anything that you feel would be interesting and entertaining learn about in these meetings, we would appreciate it. If there is something that you feel would be valuable to your to learn more about, we are open to know so we can do research on these topics. I hope this has been of value to you and it was to me.