Patrick N. Herriges
A memorial Mass and burial ceremony will be conducted Thursday, Aug. 12, at 11 a.m. for Patrick Nicholas Herriges, 75, who passed away recently at his home in Tucson, Ariz.
Following the Mass at St. Charles Catholic Church in Whitefish, Patrick's cremated remains will be placed in a family plot in the Whitefish Cemetery. He was preceded in death by his parents and five brothers.
Pat was born on March 17, 1929, in Whitefish, the sixth of 12 children to Anastasia and Nicholas Herriges. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Darlene (nee Bowlin) of Great Falls; children Michael (Jerilyn), Jennifer, Mark (Yoli), and Mitch (Holly); grandchildren Colleen, Zachery, Michael, Tesla, Lindsey, Carly and Erin and great-grandchild Seth; three sisters, three brothers and scores of nieces and nephews.
Patrick graduated from Whitefish High School in 1947, attended Northern Montana College, then worked on the Great Northern Railway until enlisting in the U.S. Navy shortly after the start of the Korean War in 1950. He was a Sonarman Second Class aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Chandler with several months' overseas duty patrolling the waters off North Korea.
Pat and Darlene were married while he was stationed in San Diego. Following the completion of his four-year enlistment, they moved to Great Falls, where he began a career as an air traffic controller and completed his college degree. After 18 years the family moved to Tucson. He retired from the air traffic position two years later, then worked as a travel agent for some 20 years until he was stricken by cancer two years ago and succumbed June 2, 2004.
He was a founding member of the Herriges Family Memorial Scholarship Foundation, a fund that grants modest scholarships to needy graduating seniors from Whitefish High School. Pat loved the Whitefish area and returned often for vacations and reunions.
The graveside ceremony will include military honors rendered by a VFW Post 276 honor guard, with a reception following at the VFW Club. The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the American Cancer Society in Tucson or one's favorite charity.