Edwin Joe Ingalls

Joe Ingalls was born in November 1936 in St. Maries, Idaho. As a child, his family followed his father’s work with the Bonneville Power Administration to Republic and Spokane before eventually landing in Electric City.

At the age of 10, Joe took his first job, racing to keep up with the wheels of the first garbage truck in the area. He worked a number of other small jobs, but by junior high, outside of school hours, Joe could usually be found at the local gas station. He went there after school, worked until closing, and spent many of his weekends there as well. He was a fixture there, keeping other people’s wheels moving while he worked his way through junior high and high school, accumulating more than a few stories that are probably best left to those who were there.

With his lifelong friend Jim Rose, and with help from the local DAV, Joe started a dance club that became popular with kids from throughout the Coulee-Hartline area. The dances continued until the crowds grew so large there was concern that the building itself might not safely hold them.

Joe stayed on at the gas station for a time after high school so the station owner could take time away to care for his ill wife. Eventually, Joe followed his family to Hillyard, where a set of fast wheels landed him in front of a judge. Given a choice between losing his driver’s license and joining the Army, Joe chose the Army and served in peacetime Korea.

Once he had satisfied the judge’s terms, Joe bounced around between Spokane and Tacoma before eventually heading to California, where he met and married Susan Longaker in 1962. Their first daughter, Margaret, was born later that year, and the family returned to Spokane in 1964.

Joe’s life changed dramatically after he fell asleep at the wheel and struck an overpass support in a single-car accident. Dr. John Hurley performed surgery, attempting to save both Joe’s leg and his ability to walk with a procedure that moved bone from his hip into his ankle. His leg was saved, but he never regained normal movement in his left foot, leaving him with pain that would plague him for the rest of his life.

Doctors told Joe that he should accept Social Security disability and expect not to work again. But Joe had other, fiercely independent ideas.

During the years of recovery and time on crutches, Joe enrolled at Eastern Washington State College in Cheney, Washington. As his mobility returned, he rode his bicycle hundreds and hundreds of miles between Cheney and Medical Lake while attending classes and building a life for his family. His and Susan's second daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1968.

When he had recovered enough, Joe took a job driving mobile homes into Montana, working all those gears with a left foot that would no longer flex. Providing for his family was a responsibility he took seriously. Accepting a position driving a school bus for the Central Valley School District didn’t make driving any easier, but it kept him closer to home.

In 1974, Joe purchased land from Wirt and Lu Pirello on South Sullivan Road and a Capp Home kit. He got himself an old Ford N tractor with giant wheels and began building a small hobby farm. The barn was built first, giving the young family a place to live through the summer. Next, Joe focused on the garage, where they spent their first winter before finally moving into their home. When it was finished, each of his daughters had her own bedroom — a luxury Joe had never had growing up.

Susan tended the garden and did the cooking and canning, while Joe built outbuildings, planted an orchard, and learned animal husbandry, raising chickens, rabbits, pigs, and cattle to help feed the family.

Eventually, Joe left the bus barn and began selling real estate. He helped many people throughout the Spokane area find their future homes, driving his clients around in style in his beautiful 1950 Chrysler Royal. He later worked for the Spokane Board of Realtors.

No matter how much pain he was in, and no matter how difficult things got, Joe showed his daughters what it meant to get up every day, show up and do the right thing to the best of their ability. Like most men, he was far from perfect, but he was committed to the goal of being a better father than the one he had.

In 1994, his only grandchild was born. Joe took great pleasure in taking young John to the Home Depot Kids Workshop countless times.

After retirement, Joe spent his time reading virtually every Western novel available through the library, many of them more than once.

Fittingly, Joe continued putting his wheels to use for other people. For many years, he drove for Spokane Valley Meals on Wheels.

And in the end, Joe remained at the wheel of his own life. When he had endured enough, he requested hospice care. He had no desire to see 90.

Grand Coulee remained close to Joe’s heart throughout his life. He treasured the friendships he had made there as a young man and had very much hoped to return for one more class reunion this year, but his health would not allow it.

Joe died September 24, 2026, at the age of 89.

He will be remembered as a thoughtful, wise, and honorable man who enjoyed watching people and telling his stories.

He is survived by Susan, his wife of 64 years; his daughters, Margaret (Wade) Krauss and Elizabeth (Stephen) Caldwell; and his grandson, John Bewley (Kayla Posey). In recent years, Joe was grateful to rediscover a relationship with his youngest sister, Nancy “Nan” Ingalls.

There will be no service. Memorial contributions may be made to Greater Spokane Meals on Wheels.