Emmett Austin Stallcop, 88
Emmett Austin Stallcop, 88, died Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, at his home near Columbia Falls. Emmett was born Dec. 10, 1920, in Havre to Halcie and Harriett Stallcop.
After graduating from Havre High School, he joined the Montana National Guard and entered service on Sept. 16, 1940. He fought in the southwest Pacific from March 1942 until July 1945 with Company M 163 Infantry. He was discharged in February 1946. He was awarded Combat Infantry badge, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, Presidents Unit Citation, and other campaign ribbons. He had been in three beachhead landings.
On May 25, 1946, he married Mary Reeves.
Emmett was Havre police judge and justice of the peace for 30 years. He retired in 1981 and moved with Mary to Columbia Falls.
Emmett had many interests, including the Milk River Archaeology Society and the Montana Archaeology Society. He was instrumental in promoting recognition of the Havre buffalo jump by conducting weekly tours of the bison kill. He also invited Smithsonian people and the curator of the American Museum of Natural History to visit the dig. He interviewed many elders of various Native American tribes and wrote several of their stories. He had numerous articles published in the Plains Anthropologist and Archaeology in Montana.
One of his great enjoyments was to float the Missouri River with Mary and numerous friends. He even built two flat-bottomed boats for that purpose.
After moving to the Flathead Valley, he joined the Civil War Roundtable and enjoyed giving presentations to the group.
He is survived by his daughter, Judith Sampson, and her husband, Ken "Sam" Sampson; three stepgrandchildren, Mitch Sampson and Jay Sampson of Polson, and Marni Thomas of Kalispell; six stepgreat-grandchildren; a brother, Elbert Stallcop, of Hamilton; sisters, Sylvia Thompson of Orange, Texas, and Myrtle Rhodes of Alma, Ark.; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Mary, in 2000; and his brother, Eugene.
Private interment will be at a later date in Woodlawn Cemetery in Columbia Falls.
The family has requested that memorials be sent to the Montana Archaeological Society, the Flathead Civil War Roundtable, or Grace Hospice.
Arrangements are by Columbia Mortuary.