Derrell was born on November 17, 1940, at his maternal grandparents’ home in Fruitvale, ID to Clarke & June Childers. He was raised in Council, along with his younger brother, Merrell.
The western way of life was a draw to Derrell in many different ways. Through and through he was a real cowboy at heart and never lost his love of animals, especially horses. At a young age he accompanied his dad to see Lee Hart near Payette and they each picked out a colt. Derrell raised and trained his grey mare, and she turned out to be a good one. That was the first of many horses Derrell broke and trained.
While still in high school, and after graduation, time was spent working for Albert Campbell on the OX Ranch on Lick Creek. He loved riding, being independent and sharing company with other cowboys. He enjoyed rodeoing and rode three bulls, riding them all, before deciding it was better to focus on calf roping and team roping! Roping and breaking horses were interests he held for many years.
Upon graduation Derrell and his best friend, Red (Nolan) Woods took a trip to Mexico. No doubt, it was quite a sight to see those two kids, still wet behind the ears, going around Mexico in their cowboy boots and big cowboy hats. He loved to tell the story about the cop yelling at them to “Alto” which he thinks meant stop. By the time the boys made it back to Weiser they were flat broke. Grandma Millie Bethel fed them and filled their gas tank so they could get home to Council.
Derrell’s first major leather project was a fully hand tooled leather saddle which he sold at one point. Peggy was able to locate it years later and bought it back, so she had his first saddle and his son, Ben, had the last saddle he made.
In 1962 Derrell married Bonnie Harrington and they had two daughters, Deneen and Denell. They divorced in 1982. In 1983 he married Peggy Stover Schwartz, and adopted her two sons, Ben and Travis. They divorced in 2017 but remained close friends.
While Derrell’s daughters were in high school, he traveled all over the northwestern United States taking the girls to rodeos. Don, Billie & Doug Kesler were nearly always with them on those road trips.
Over the years Derrell worked a wide variety of occupations, such as working as a cowboy, logging, owning & operating the Chevron service station, log truck driver, sawyer, saddle maker, horse trainer, night watch and clean up at the Boise Cascade sawmill, concrete truck driver, batch plant operator, and finally retiring to sell real estate for 20 years.
The last few years found him hunting, enjoying archery with his Juniper Mountain custom-made long bows and fishing with his special friends.
Derrell was well known for not being a conversationalist. He was a man of few words, one might say. You also couldn’t miss that he was a very kind man with a heart of gold. He stepped up and helped Peggy raise her sons as his own. Derrell was a true and loyal friend you could always count on.
Derrell passed away peacefully at home on August 2, 2023, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Derrell is survived by his children, Frank (Karla) Bishop, Deneen (Ed) Longley, and Travis Childers; grandchildren, Andrea (Kevan) Lencioni, Kaitlyn (Jedidiah) Horca, Brian (Rebecca) Bishop, Randi (Chris) Thompson, Kelsie (Nick McCarty) Pfost, Jake Longley, Hannah Childers, Caitlin Childers, Seth Shumway, Jesse Wise, and Crysta Wise, 13 great grandchildren, his brother, Merrell (Sharon) Childers, and his best friend, Peggy Childers. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, parents, and two children, Ben Childers in 2015 and Denell Childers in 2017.
At his request there will be no service. Arrangements are under the direction of Bowman Funeral Parlor of Boise.