Edwin O. "Bud" Myhre, 86
Edwin O. "Bud" Myhre died on April 12, 2005.
Bud was born on Jan. 24, 1919, in Minot, N.D., to Melvin and Edna Myhre. Their home was in Rangely, N.D., just north of Balfour. The population of Rangely was nine - Bud's parents, Melvin and Edna, and five brothers and one sister. The family owned a general store and grain elevator along the rail line.
After graduating from high school, Bud went to Glasgow and worked at Lebert and Gallagher Meat Market before moving to Spokane where he studied bookkeeping and business at Kinman Business University. He worked at Greenough's Market while attending school.
About this time, Valley Motor Supply was looking for someone to train as a purchasing agent for their Havre store. Bud's brother Muryl was managing the Glasgow store and recommended his brother for the position in Havre. Bud accepted, and, it was there that he met Helen who was working in the office. Her brother, Walter Olson, was the president of the company at Havre. Helen and Bud got married on Sept. 20,1941.
Bud joined the Air Force in January of 1944. He began his term in Fort Worth Texas, and was assigned to the 141st Armored. Signal Corps.
After the military Bud and Helen decided to head west from the eastern part of the state. They were traveling to Oregon to visit Bud's sister but made a stop in Kalispell on the way. At that time Bud and Helen met Ken McGuire, owner of Flathead Specialty, a food distributor in Kalispell. Ken offered Bud a job and he soon went to work selling Nalley's Potato Chips & Nuts by Heck and many other food products to various restaurants and food outlets. This business led him and Helen to the purchase of Bud's Fountain Lunch, located in the Kalispell Bus Depot. Bud ran the lunch counter and Helen made lunch specials and pies at their home.
During Bud's time as owner of the lunch counter, Valley Motor Supply had opened a store in Kalispell. In mid-'56 the Kalispell manager came in for lunch at Bud's restaurant and said to Bud, "You're going to work for Valley Motor Supply." Soon Bud sold the lunch counter and went to work for Valley as an outside salesman. For the 29 years he was with the company he covered Lakeside, Somers, Bigfork, Columbia Falls, West Glacier and Kalispell. He knew his customers so well that they trusted him to manage their inventories so they never ran out of what they needed.
One of the highlights of Bud's career was in 1963 when he was named one of the top four salesmen in the United States for the Thermoid Jobber salesman's contest and won an all-expense paid trip for him and Helen to the Indianapolis 500.
Bud and Helen spent their retirement years living along the beautiful Flathead Lake near Lakeside.
Bud and Helen had three children, Marilyn who passed away in 1961, Terry who resides in Helena, and Cheryl Kovacich, husband Bob, and their children, Anna, Amanda and Timothy, who reside in Lakeland, Fla.
Bud was preceded in death by his brothers, Wallace and Muryl.
He is survived by wife Helen; his sister, Dorothy Jensen of Tigard, Ore.; and brothers, Duanne of Redmond, Ore., Laurice of Billings, and Lyle of Glasgow.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 16, at Johnson Mortuary Chapel. Burial will follow at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Johnson Mortuary.
Johnson Mortuary & Crematory is caring for Bud's family.
Memorials may be made to either the Lakeside QRU, P.O. Box 911, Lakeside, MT 59922, or to the First Church of Christ Scientist, 502 West Wyoming, Kalispell, MT 59901.