Daniel Eigeman, 85

Daniel Eigeman, 85, passed away on March 25, 2020.

Dad was born in 1934 to Frank and Ruth Eigeman in Great Falls. He was the eldest of two sons born to Frank and Ruth. Doug, his younger brother, was born seven years later. Dad attended Great Falls High School where he competed in track and field. According to Dad, he was one of the fastest runners ever known to Great Falls and possibly even to the entire state of Montana. And there was an element of truth to that. Indeed, there was always an element of truth to the many stories he told. Though, sometimes the stories seemed a bit far-fetched, leaving us to wonder where the truth ended and the entertainment began — you know, like those movies that start with the caption, “Based on a true story.” That was one of the qualities of Dad that was so endearing — boy, he could tell a compelling story. Dad enthralled the rest of us every evening at dinner recounting his day in the office. Bear in mind that he was a CPA — this was no task for an amateur.

After graduating from Great Falls High, Dan, like his father Frank, uncles Tom, Bob and John, brother Doug, daughter Tammy, son Tim, and son Jeff, attended the University of Montana in Missoula. He was an ROTC cadet and member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and proceeded to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1956. In the spring of 1957 he graduated from the Army’s anti-aircraft artillery and guided missile school at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he was trained in the operation of Nike Ajax guided missiles. After serving in the Army as a lieutenant, he returned to Montana. By 1959, Dan was living in Butte where he experienced the Hebgen Lake earthquake — from a distance. He was fond of telling the story of “being shaken from a sound sleep to see the lights swinging from the ceiling.” (Sometimes the story started out with, “the shaking threw me out of bed and onto the floor ...” or “the building was swaying ...”) However the story started, it was always a good one.

In 1963, Dad was introduced to Mom by the English family, who were longtime friends of the Eigemans and their next door neighbors when Dad was growing up in Great Falls. Dan and Marilyn dated for a year and were married in 1964 in Lewistown. At the time, Dad worked for Douglas Wilson and Company. In 1965, he earned his CPA certificate, the 422nd person to do so in the state of Montana. In 1971, the family moved to Kalispell when Austin Miller recruited Dad to be his partner in an accounting firm here. The firm grew to include a number of other partners including Gary Saurey and Gerald Hanson, who together with his wife Marion were friends of Dad’s and Mom’s in Lewistown. In 1994, the firm was acquired by JCCS where Dad continued practicing until his retirement in 1999.

Dad was active in his local community throughout his life. He was also active in his profession outside of his practice. Dad first joined the Lions Club in Lewistown and continued that membership with the Kalispell Sunriser Lions Club from 1971 until just a few years ago. He was treasurer of the club for many years. Every year as a Lion, Dad helped prepare and distribute food baskets for families around town during the holidays. In the ’70s and ’80s, he recruited the rest of the family to help staff the organization’s fireworks booth in preparation for Independence Day — something we always looked forward to. In the ’90s, 2000s, and 2010s, Dad could be found helping the club raise funds in the Lion’s parking lot during the Northwest Montana Fair. He was an enthusiastic Little League and Babe Ruth baseball coach in the ’70s and ’80s. From a professional standpoint, Dad served as President of the Montana Society of CPAs in 1992 and 1993. In 1997, the organization awarded Dad the George D. Anderson Distinguished Service Award for demonstrating exceptional commitment to the profession, to the public, and to the community. Dad served on the board of directors for CPA Mutual Insurance from 1986 through 2004, and he served on the board of directors for Semitool from 1985 until the firm was acquired by Applied Materials in 2009.

Outside of these activities, Dad loved to participate in athletics. In his 30s, 40s and 50s, he often challenged us kids to a footrace to the boxes down the street to pick up the mail. For decades, he bowled in the Wednesday night men’s league at Skyline Bowl. He and other fellow bowling friends then followed their evening with racquetball matches at the Elk’s Club where he was a longtime member. Around the age of 40, one of his young sons convinced him to take up golf despite his protests that he “was a lousy golfer.” And, while that proved to be exceptionally accurate, it never prevented him from eagerly participating in the sport and greatly enjoying the companionship of his friends and family. His leisurely sporting achievements included: knocking his front tooth out with his own racquetball racket (something for which he laughingly endured a heavy dose of good-natured ribbing), a hole-in-one on the No. 8 green after teeing off his drive on No. 9 of the Cameron course at Buffalo Hill (more good-natured ribbing and many laughs), and finally a true hole-in-one while golfing in Arizona.

While Dad was a hard worker, great father, husband, friend, and contributor to his community and profession, above all we’ll remember him for his fine, and sometimes goofy, sense of humor. Dad loved to laugh and, it’s fair to say, he spent an outsized share of his 85 years doing just that.

Dan is survived by his wife Marilyn; daughter Tammy; sons Tim and Jeff; grandchildren Nicholas, Katy, Matthew, Jason, Sidney, and Emily; and great-grandchildren Liam, Remy, and Ellis.

We ask that memorials for Dad be made in memory of him to the Humane Society of Northwest Montana.