Richard Bosnak

Richard Bosnak, 68, of Columbia Falls, "went home to be with the Lord" on Oct. 5, 2011, after losing his battle with cancer at home surrounded by his family.

Richard was born Feb. 19, 1943, in Braddock, Pa., and raised in McKeesport, Pa. He entered the military and was stationed in Fort Riley, Kan., for three years in the early 1960s.

After the military, he became a truck driver for Rock Island Motor Transit Co., in Kansas City, Kan., for 10 years.

He then moved to Waterville, Kan., where he became chief of police from 1976 to 1985, then to Olathe, Kan., where he worked for KRJ Trucking Co., and then on to Columbia Falls in 1989, where he was a school bus driver for Columbia Falls School District for 18 years. 

Richard was married to the love of his life, Shirley Worthington Bosnak, for 47 years and had four beautiful daughters and six grandchildren.

Richard had a fun sense of humor and was loved by all who knew him. He was a lover of animals and a man of many talents. If it could be done, he could do it. He loved hunting, camping with family and friends, fishing and, most of all, boating. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and Elizabeth Bosnak.

He is survived by his wife Shirley Bosnak, of Columbia Falls; sister Garnet Flarety, of White Oak, Pa.; and daughters and their families, Lorie and Rex Stanton and their children Brandon, Joshua and Kelsey, of Colmbia Falls, April and Dick Lindeman of Columbia Falls, and Kimberly and Mike Mills and their daughter Lindsey, of Spokane, and Rachel and Chad Salonka and their children Hannah and Logan, of Spokane.

"We will love you forever!"

A celebration of Richard's life will be held at Four Square Church, 233 Kalispell Avenue, in Whitefish, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, at 2 p.m.