Roland Otto Cheek, 88

It is with peace in our hearts that we notify friends and community that Roland Cheek’s circle of life is now complete. He passed peacefully in his sleep on April 12th.

Roland was born July 16, 1935 in Sweetwater, Texas to Hill Solomon Cheek and Viola Rose Cheek. His youth primarily was spent in the rural area around Roseburg, Oregon with brothers Hillburn and Duane. Hillburn’s deftness with a fly rod and ability to out-think deer laid a foundation for Roland’s passion for the great outdoors. As Roland matured he fell in love with the girl next door and married Carolyn Jane Cheek. They celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary in November of 2023. The Cheeks have three children: Charlotte Selene Cheek (deceased 2020), Cheri Johnson (Randy) of Columbia Falls, Marcus Cheek of Columbia Falls and grandson Justin (Amy) Cheek of Wisconsin.

Roland’s career took off when he began working for US Plywood in Roseburg. Here he met men with shared interests in outdoor adventure. These friends planted seeds that he should check out the wildernesses of Montana. When Plum Creek began their start-up operation in Columbia Falls in 1964, Roland was primed and ready. Thus began Roland’s love affair with Big Sky Country. 

Over time, Skyline Outfit was born as Roland juggled his growing environmental activism against the timber industry’s push for increased allowable cut. By 1973 a full-time outfitting business operating out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness was real. For two decades Roland and Jane were partners in their own Skyline outfit guide service. Referencing Roland’s “About” section of FB, he writes, “Roland Cheek bucked blizzards and avalanches by day, and below-zero nights while searching out remote basins and distant mountain valleys for the promised Valhallas he thought were there. But to reach those promised paradises also meant rafting perilous whitewater rivers, fighting through wildfires, enduring deluges, lightning storms, and raging tempests.

On the other hand, there’ve been bull elk bugling in a meadow at break of day, “rocking chair” bucks cresting distant ridgelines, and rainbow trout as large as a big man’s forearm, erupting from the placid waters of an alpine lake, and there’ve been grizzly bears!

Oh yes, there’ve been grizzly bears! - charging from alder thickets with their teeth bared and ears back, or digging tubers in a marsh with breezes rippling silvertipped guard hairs along hump and rump. Roland has had them stare at him with something akin to disdain, or charge within 10-feet, teeth clacking head swinging low to ground. 

He’s been scared spitless and thanked God for the privilege of walking the same paths of these most powerful of the world’s great carnivores. He calculated over 35,000 miles riding the wilderness trails over five decades wandering the wild country throughout the West. Roland has matched wit, grit, stamina, and sweat with the best of a beautiful land and the worst of savage land. He won some and lost some, exactly the way it should be — and always is — during a life of real adventure. 

Roland shared what he learned via several decades of experiences through a syndicated newspaper column, popular nationwide radio program, hundreds of magazine articles, and upwards of twenty books. 

Roland believed in community participation. Alongside other volunteers, he helped build Little League and American Legion baseball diamonds near the Montana Veterans Home, a softball diamond near the high school; he also helped coach the Glacier Twins Legion Baseball team, and he was active in Lion’s Club community service projects. Roland was one of four proud founders of Back Country Horsemen which originated from a hunting camp in the Bob in 1974. The founders had grave concerns over a horse permit system being proposed to access trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. They organized and the club grew and grew. Now there are 212 BCHA chapters across 32 states. In 2023 the group volunteered 196,480 hours to maintain trails on public lands. 

Roland was surrounded by good friends which he valued. A Celebration of Life will be held at the Cheek home on Wednesday evening, June 12, from 6 pm - 8:30 pm: 3101 Mt Hwy 206 Columbia Falls. The celebration is informal/potluck. The family hopes you join them to help honor and celebrate his remarkable life. Memorials can be sent to Back Country Horsemen Flathead - designated for trail projects: PO Box 1192 Columbia Falls, Mt. 59912. To send online condolences to Roland’s family please visit his tribute page at www.columbiamortuary.com.