Larry Dean Kelch, 65

Larry Dean Kelch, 65, passed away on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006, at Kalispell Regional Hospital from heart arrhythmia due to complications of cancer. Dean was born July 22, 1941, in Kalispell, to Everett and Edna Kelch. He grew-up in the Flathead Valley except for two years, when the family moved to Seattle where his father and mother worked in the shipyards during World War II.

From grades first through eighth he attended Bissell Elementary School on Farm to Market Road, graduating from Flathead High School in 1959. After graduation he enlisted in the Army from which he was honorably discharged in December of 1962. He spent time in Germany operating heavy equipment. From 1963 through September 2003 he was involved in the timber industry sawing logs and operating a delimber.

In 1965, he married Evelyn Hanley from Whitefish and they had four children. They raised their family on a hobby farm on Farm to Market Road west of Whitefish, until moving to Polson in 2004 where he retired, to enjoy more of this beautiful valley we live in. He was active in the Bissell community, being on the Olney-Bissell School Board of Trustees for eight years, a 4-H livestock leader for 11 years and several years in the Stillwater Grange.

His family and the outdoors were the loves of his life whether working, playing, hunting or boating.

Dean is survived by his wife, Evelyn, of Polson; children, Wendy and Dave Morris of Whitefish, Sheila and Jim Lindsay of Hot Springs, S.D., Renee Kelch, and Jeff and Brandi Kelch, all of Polson; grandchildren Casey (Morris) and Tim Johnson, Cody Morris, Jamie and Lane Lindsay, Makenzy Kelch, and Dylan Kelch; great-granddaughter, Isabell Johnson; mother, Edna Kelch of Kalispell; sisters, Ellen Creighton, and Sherry and Gerald Madsen, brothers, Lloyd and Marcia Kelch, and Robert Kelch, all of Kalispell; also many nieces, nephews and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his father and stepmother, Everett and Remina "Tiny" Kelch; an infant brother; brother-in-law, Neil Creighton; and nephew, Jason Madsen.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at the First Baptist Church of Whitefish with burial to follow at 2 p.m. at Glacier Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

Austin Funeral Home is taking care of the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Flathead 4-H Foundation c/o Extension Services, 920 South Main, Kalispell, MT 59901.