Gabriel "Gabe" Dalton Jenks

Gabe and his family settled in Gooding when he was seven years old. He attended schools in Gooding and Wendell. After moving to Gooding, it was his turn to be the big brother; with the birth of his brother, Taha, and his sister Grace.

Not long ago, Gabe started travelling. Gabe attended many of the Jenks’ family reunions in the past years, but more recently, he flew down to Arizona to visit his sister, Annee, and brother-in-law, Matthew, he drove to the Oregon Coast with his family this past summer. He and his mom, Ivy even spent a week in Orlando, Florida taking in all the sights; Disney World, Universal Studios, and hitting the town. He and Ivy were planning to take another Mother/Son trip to Disneyland after the holidays and even discussed making it a tradition to explore new places together. He and Ivy made not only great travel partners, but they enjoyed much of their time together - Lunches, movies, shopping. Gabe would make the shopping trips adventurous by grabbing a giant teddy bear, or rearranging wooden blocks to spell different words, some not suitable for church. But he also loved stopping to smell the colognes, body sprays, and colognes at Bath and Body Works.

Gabe was not only close with his mom, but his dad as well – who would often receive meal requests from Gabe via text message, from just upstairs. Carey would gladly whip up the homemade meals – some of Gabe’s favorites would include chicken noodle soup, or Mac & cheese and his dad would always deliver the food. Gabe and Carey would also spend time working on their trucks together and had a great father/son bond.

Similarly, Gabe was the ideal brother, not only spending time and creating many memories with his siblings, but it was said that he was the “peace keeper” of the house – “You bring the Steak and Potatoes and I’ll bring the Peace” he would say. In writing this, I talked to all of Gabe’s siblings, who reminisced about not only how funny he was – from stealing a couch, peeing on a tree as a child while waiting for Dominick at the bus stop, having the ability to sleep anywhere, I mean Absolutely ANYWHERE, that boy could sleep – even eating worms on a bet. Even at a young age, Gabe and his sister Annee had a Flintstones phase where she would greet him with a “Bam-Bam!” and he would run into her arms shouting “Peddles” in his attempt to say pebbles. I was also told stories of his patience in taking his time to help Gracie with fun projects or even her math homework, and even spending his free time playing Overwatch or ARK with Taha or going to the movies together. Another story that came up was about the day Gracie was born – Gabe took it upon himself to race Dominick home in order be the first of the two boys to meet their baby sister. For the record, Gabe won.

Gabe loved superheroes; especially Batman and Superman; pretty much as long as he was able to dress up as them and wear a cape (usually a fleece blanket). He also liked Popeye. He would watch the cartoon and sing the theme song. He even had his own “twister punch” where he would swing one arm around in the biggest circles he could, for about 10-20 rotations, and then punch – usually punching one of his siblings. He used his Popeye strength to massage people’s backs (usually Ivy’s) by pounding on them. He could work out all the knots with his strong punches, even as a little kid.

One year, Annee, Dominick, & Gabe used to find and take care of Box Turtles. Gabe found a baby Box Turtle that was about the size of a quarter and named it…..Quarter. He had it for a long time, and never found a small one like that again.

One tradition they had as family was spending every Christmas eve at the movies together. Gabe was big on family like that - He traveled many times to Boise to help his Grandpap pack and move and had a special bond with his cousins Maggie May and Porter and enjoyed seeing them when he came to Boise. He colored a special picture for Maggie May which is now framed and hangs in the hallway at the Dorman home. Over the last year, Gabe has established a good adult friendship with his sister Annee and spent their time together watching the miniseries Over the Wall, or playing games – his favorite of which was Funfair.

In Gabe’s obituary, Annee wrote that Gabe enjoyed working at places where he could interact with people. That is evident today, as several of Gabe’s former co-workers have joined us. Being able to engage socially and build friendships was something he excelled at. The friendships were important to him, but so was earning his paycheck, which he was quick to spend. Even from a young age, he was entrepreneurial- selling goldfish crackers to kids on the bus, and candy out of his locker at school, as well as keeping a running tab of what he was owed by Dominick (apparently the cost for eating those worms was $20, which Gabe never did see and was not one to let Dominick forget it). He got his spending habits from his grandma and would state that you don't get to take your money with you when you die, which was always reflected in his name brand and good quality clothes.

He always was bright and witty like that - a real math whiz who despite liking making a dollar, was always quick to help a friend in need. Whether it was driving to Seattle to help a friend move or help tutor a peer. Gabe was actually asked by a teacher to help the other kids in his class with comprehension when he attended school in Wendell - and of course, he would gladly lend aid to his classmates. He never did do his homework in that class but despite that, he passed with flying colors. And although he may have not done his homework in that class, he did a little extra work at school in Gooding…one day, he went to the canal during school hours and caught a fish with his bare hands. While he was in high school, at the end of everyday as all the students were leaving the building, Gabe would start clapping. Others slowly joined in and soon everyone would be clapping. No one ever knew why they were clapping, but they did it every day.

Not only was Gabe loved by the people in his life, but by his cats as well and it was well known that he doted on them - DC, Ike, Klausy, and Monroe all held a special place in his heart. Gabe used to carry DC around by his neck and would feed him goldfish crackers and candy bars. DC was his favorite cat of all time. He showed them all great affection which was clear when looking through photos. Along with cats, Gabe also took up another interest recently- tattooing. He gave tattoos to himself, his girlfriend, and his brother Dominick, who despite having an abundance of tattoos, now has one small smiley face on his pinky finger that could possibly hold more significance than all his other tattoos combined.

I've spoken a bit about Gabe's relationship with his family, but I feel it's important to tell you about his girlfriend Gen as well, who when asked how long they'd been together and how they'd met didn't hesitate to name it down to the day in May that they became official and about how she originally met Gabe in 2020 when she needed a ride and he was quick to help out. When they did begin getting to know each other better, Gen said they always had something to talk about. The first time they hung out it had already felt as if they knew each other a lifetime.

I'm talking a lot about the people in Gabe's life - people that were close to him and lives that he touched, but we cannot begin to count the number of lives affected by him. As I stated in the beginning, Gabe was quiet, but his smile, demeanor and antics gave light to the world around him. I wish I could keep you all here well into the night telling you about my nephew, and I could probably drag this on longer with other stories, but the truth is that he left this world too early. I was told a lot of memories over this last week, in preparation for this, and all I can tell you is to continue sharing these memories with one another, that is how Gabe will live on with us all.