Jesse Lynch

Jesse Thomas Lynch, 90, passed away at his home in Hungry Horse on May 4, 2014, after his battle with lung cancer.

He was born in Upton, Wyo., to Jesse and Margaret Lynch on Sept. 12, 1923.

In the autumn of 1930, he moved with his family to Montana in a Model T Ford, following the early trails and lake shores until they reached their new home in Trego. Jesse helped his dad with the farming and later drove a taxi cab in Kalispell, for his dad.

When he was 17 years old, Jesse enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps at Belton, where he served as a night guard and telephone operator.

Jesse joined the Army and trained in Texas. He was then sent to Korea for the Korean War.

On June 6, 1959, he married Opal Theresia Schmig.

Jesse worked in the woods falling timber with a crosscut saw for the Hungry Horse Dam. He later worked on construction of the dam and on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

He cut ice on Lake Five that was hauled to Whitefish and stored by the Great Northern Railroad for shipment. He also worked for Cotton’s House Moving, which moved most of the houses from the compound for the Hungry Horse Dam.

In May 1964, he moved to Hungry Horse and worked for the Anaconda Aluminum Co. He worked there 20 years before retiring.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Neil, Warren and Dan; and sisters  Orrine Rhodes and Maude Bauska.

Jesse is survived by his wife Opal, of Hungry Horse; daughters Jane Packer and husband Bill, of Edgewood, N.M., and Rita Miller and husband Dennis, of Madison, Ohio; granddaughters Tess Gelderloos and husband Paul, of Billings, Erika Slater, of Mentor, Ohio, and Jessica Slater, of Columbus, Ohio; great grandson Aidan Barnes, of Mentor, Ohio; and sisters Rose Hollipeter, Geraldine Mitton and Donna Lerew and her husband Herb, all of Kalispell.

A celebration of life will be held at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home in Kalispell on Friday, May 9, 2014, at 1 p.m. A reception will follow at the Moose Lodge in Kalispell.