Dallas L Budden

Dallas was born to James and Geneva Lehnis on September 22, 1951 in Dallas Texas. She spent a lot of her childhood with her grandmother Lottie Taylor learning to sew, quilt, and make dolls. She also spent much time with her Aunt Patsy (Taylor) Ezelle who was a lifetime friend.

After graduating Mesquite High School where she enjoyed playing in the band Dallas moved to Houston where she worked for Boise Cascade for several years. After working in Houston, she returned to the Mesquite area where she worked for her father helping to manage a trucking business.

In 1992 she packed up her Chevy Suburban and headed to Fairbanks, Alaska. Alaska had been a fascination and a dream for her since high school. In Fairbanks she met Ed in a basic gold prospecting class. Ed, who was stationed at nearby Eielson AFB, deployed to Saudi Arabia in the fall of 1992 for three months but a daily exchange of letters occurred, and they were married on the summer solstice in 1993. While in Fairbanks Dallas worked at the Girl Scout Council and became good friends with Jan Jenitis and Peggy O’Neal for the next 30 years.
In the fall of 94 Ed received an assignment to Germany. At first overwhelmed by Germany Dallas quickly adapted and over the next 7 years got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees all while working full time and helping to run a household. While in Germany Dallas worked for a private company that provided computer training for the US Army. Despite her work and constant studies Dallas and Ed visited 22 countries in Europe.

In the spring of 2001 Ed got an assignment to Scott AFB in Illinois. While living in Bellville Dallas taught at McKendree College and Southwest Illinois College. At this time, she and Ed joined a homebrew club and learned to make beer, wine and meade.

In 2004 Ed got an unaccompanied tour to Korea for a year with a follow up assignment back to Eielson AFB near Fairbanks. Dallas moved to Fairbanks and oversaw the construction of their dream log home while Ed was in Korea. While back in her beloved Alaska she worked at the University of Alaska designing online courses. Dallas and Ed enjoyed salmon fishing in Valdez, watching the aurora, and making property improvements.

Finally in 2015 Dallas and Ed tired of the long winters and high cost of living in Alaska and moved to Nampa, Idaho. Here Dallas and Ed enjoyed the warm weather and great people of southern Idaho. While in Nampa Dallas worked with some truly outstanding people in the tech center of the Nampa School District. During the past five years Dallas and Ed became fast friends with Tina and Randy McMullin. Tina and Randy provided Dallas and Ed with valuable friendship and fresh eggs!

Dallas was a Christian and had a quiet faith in God. She was a woman with many hobbies. She quilted, did oil paintings, made bead jewelry, and worked with glass. In 2019 Dallas and Ed bought a travel trailer and frequently camped in Hagerman and Declo. While camping Dallas always insisted the campground have robust WIFI capability so that she could play World of Warcraft online with her Aunt Patsy. Dallas also loved her cats Nugget, Genie, Sammie, and Lexi thru the years.

Dallas will be missed immensely by her husband Ed of nearly 28 years and all her friends who loved her. RIP Dallas

In lieu of flowers a scholarship is being established in her name for an information technology student. Please wait for further information to be updated on this site if you wish to donate.