Myron Philip Chase, 75
Myron Philip Chase, 75, of Great Falls, died on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, at a local hospital, due to natural causes.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13, at Schnider Funeral Home in Great Falls. His graveside service will take place at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, at Glacier Memorial Gardens in Kalispell. Schnider Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Myron was born Sept. 5, 1934, in Kalispell, to Myron and Dora (Scholle) Chase. His early years were spent in Glacier Park (now East Glacier) and Kalispell. He graduated from Flathead County High School in 1952, and attended Montana State College (now Montana State University). Drafted in 1956, he spent two years in the U.S. Army, attending the Radio and Communications School at Fort Knox, Ky., and served with the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany.
Myron was an electrician by trade and a 50-year member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 768 of Kalispell, and a licensed master electrician. He worked for the Chase Electric Co., and the Glacier Park Hotel Co., in the 1950s and early '60s, and then spent four years with Ets Hokin and Galvin in quality control on the Montana and Wyoming Minuteman Missile cable installations. He retired as a civilian electrician in 1993 with Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Myron was a longtime member of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society. His other principal interests were fishing, especially on the South Fork of the Two Medicine, watching trains at Glacier Park and spending many hours there serving as a volunteer at the Amtrak station. He took a great interest in voicing his support for passenger rail and Amtrak in particular.
He played a great part in seeing that the family forest land in Flathead County was protected with a conservation easement to the Montana Land Reliance, as well as donating an easement for a public-use trail to the Foys-to-Blacktail Trail group in Kalispell.
He is survived by his wife, May (Bowman) Chase; brother, John Chase, of Great Falls; cousin, Doris (Grover) Bowen, of Tulelake, Calif.; godchildren, Diane Carlton, Janet "J. Jay" Carlton and Mark Carlton; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
The family suggests memorials to The Animal Foundation, P.O. Box 3426, Great Falls, MT 59403, Great Northern Railway Historical Society, 193 Pennsylvania Ave. E., St. Paul, MN 55130-4319; or Foys to Blacktail Trails, P.O. Box 81, Kalispell, MT 59903.