Friends we'll miss
Tommy "Tom" Stroschein (Moscow) Obituary
On Thursday, June 27, 2024, the Idaho Sheepherder departed to be with the Great Shepherd of green pastures and still waters.  What a capacious legacy with volumes of stories he has left for us to treasure.
 
  From true pioneer stock— Pauline Fyke, born in Wetonka, South Dakota, and Roy Stroschein, born in Bosler, Wyoming, came their first born, Tommy Sherrill Stroschein on July 26, 1937 in American Falls, Idaho.  Tom was incredibly proud of his German Hohenzollern heritage, and even more proud of the things his father accomplished in his lifetime with only an eighth-grade education.  
Tommy grew up working side by side with his dad on the farm at Sterling, ten miles north of Aberdeen.  
After high school, Tom’s dad told him he could go to any college he wanted, but his tuition money would be at the University of Idaho.  
After college, Tom met Karen Smith, a sorority sister of Tom’s younger sister, Sharon.  Tom and Karen were married December 28, 1963.  They made their life on the family farm where Tom worked since college; and where he recently acquired a band of sheep.  
Tom was appointed by Cecil Andrus to the Idaho Sheep Commission during Governor Andrus’s first term, in 1972, and to the Idaho Wheat Commission during Andrus’s second term in 1990.  Tom was appointed to the Idaho State Farm Service Agency Board in 1993.  He also served on various boards and committees of National Farmers Union, Eastern Idaho Grazing Association, and Society for Range Management.  Tom worked with the US Forest Service to initiate the first rest-rotation grazing program in the Caribou National Forest.  
After leasing the Aberdeen Farm to Val Wahlen in 1997, Tom and Ruby moved to Moscow, Idaho for Ruby to finish her degree in Ag Econ.  It was in this anomaly of political diversity Tom was successfully elected as Latah County Commissioner for four terms, retiring in 2015.  During his tenure as commissioner, Tom was appointed by Governor Otter as an Idaho Health and Welfare Board Member in 2009, retiring in 2020.  The awards and recognitions Tom has received through the years are extensive. Tom’s finest accomplishment was starting the Idaho Recovery Centers.  Because Tom spear-headed the project, the initial funding from the Idaho Millennial Fund included the start-up of the Latah Recovery Center, and three others.  The program has now expanded to nine alcohol and drug recovery centers in Idaho and several satellite centers.
Tom was an active member of the Aberdeen St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and Moscow Emmanual Lutheran Church where he served on the church council and University of Idaho Campus Christian Center board. He was also a member of the Moscow Rotary Club.