Obituaries
The Bigfork Eagle runs obituaries and death notices for people who have lived in the Bigfork area. To submit, e-mail editor@bigforkeagle.com or call 837-5131. Deadlines are every Monday at noon.
Joseph C. Klempel
Joseph Carl Klempel, Jr., 90, of Bigfork, died Wednesday, June 23, 2010.
Joey was born in a log-sod house on his parents' homestead out in the hills southwest of Lambert. He began his education in the Round Butte School, where he walked or rode a horse six miles one way. He later attended Sidney Elementary School.
At the age of 14, he moved with his parents to a farm in the Yellowstone Valley, north of Savage. There as a teenager he sang in a family trio at church and on the radio. He especially enjoyed singing bass in the song "When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there."
In 1943 at the First Baptist Church in Sidney, he married his sweetheart and lifetime partner, Annie Almond, his wife of 67 years. They farmed near Crane, raising sugar beets, corn, chickens, milk and beef cows, and a garden. During this time, Joey also helped feed out feeder lambs for his parents and helped with lambing for different sheep ranchers. He was a good neighbor to many especially in time of need.
A man of few words but in that few said much. He loved riding and working with horses even as a young child. He was a cowboy and rancher at heart. He owned two outstanding saddle horses: Pepper and Midnight, often riding 30 miles from the valley farm to the "homestead" to herd cattle or sheep.
During the 1950s, he horse logged in the Flathead Valley west of Kalispell.
Prior to his retirement, he would rather rake a field of hay with a team of mules rather than doing the job with a tractor. In August 1947, he moved his wife and family to the Flathead Valley and bought property. They harvested and sold wild trees in the fall for many years to various tree yards in Kalispell, Phoenix and Utah. In 1958 he bought a farm in Bigfork where he raised Black Angus cattle and had a dairy for a number of years. He gave his nine children spiritual values and a strong work ethic.
He was preceded in death by parents, Joseph Sr., and Martha Nollmeyer Klempel, three brothers, two sisters and one daughter, Delia May Klempel.
He is survived by his wife, Annie Klempel at the family home in Bigfork; his children, Pat (Wes' Burnham of Columbia Falls, Doris (Jon) Rost of Whitefish, Edith (Duane) Benson of Bigfork, Naoimi (Bob) Oldfield of Chandler, Ariz., Joe III (Gina) Klempel of Kalispell, Cathy (Jerry) Benson, Ron (Lisa) Klempel and Richard (Rachel) Klempel of Bigfork; sisters-in-law, Harriet, Ethel and Lois Klempel; grandchildren, Denise Oldfield, Nicole (Klempel) Shoshenskiy, Collin Klempel, Jay Dee Rost, Heidi Oldfield Obey, Kim Rost, Gregory Oldfield, Martin Burnham, Violet Benson, Stephanie Benson Lepinski, Justin Benson, Daryn Benson, Crystal Burnham, Daryl Benson, Candy Burnham, James Barnhart, Brenda Benson Olson, Jenny Klempel Miner, Jessie Klempel, Rainey Klempel, Levi Klempel, and 12 great-grandchildren.
Celebration of life services were held at the Little Brown Church with Rev. Pat Pierce officiating, on Monday, June 28, at 2 p.m.
Interment followed at Lone Pine Cemetery, next to his daughter Delia May.
Friends are encouraged to visit www.buffalohillfh.com to leave notes of condolences for the family. Buffalo Hill Funeral Home caring for the family.