Orville Grant Fredenberg, 94

Orville Grant Fredenberg "left this Earth" on July 25, 2008. "His Betsy came down on her angel wings and took him with her."

He was delivered into this world Nov. 9, 1913, by his grandmother, Laura Fredenberg, who practiced midwifery on the East North side of Kalispell at that time. Orville's parents were Anson G. Fredenberg and Ruth Crandle Fredenberg, and he was the fifth of 16 children.

Orville's mother passed in 1941, but his father continued to raise his family by himself, with the help of his daughter, Vivian Barnes. Orville loved and revered his father and always tried to pattern his life after him.

Although Orville only had a seventh-grade education, he went on to be the first Kalispell policeman hired under the Civil Service Act in 1939. He served 23 years as a policeman and retired, for the first time, in 1961. He then served two terms of police judge and justice of the peace, combined, and retired again in 1976. Orville was the oldest living retired police officer in the state of Montana.

Before his law-enforcement career, he worked as a mechanic and was a cook in a Civilian Conservation Camp. Orville also was a truck driver at Fort Peck Dam during its construction.

On Dec. 3,1938, Orville married "his Betsy," Mary Elizabeth Motichka, in Kalispell. Both families were pioneer families in the Flathead Valley, and they grew up on neighboring farms. Orville and Betsy enjoyed 67 wonderful, loving years together. They were inseparable. They enjoyed camping, fishing, boating, traveling, playing cards and just being with each other and their family.

Orville and Betsy had two children, Mary Ruth and Ronald, and he was a devoted husband and father.

Orville loved automobiles, and he loved working on them. He owned more than 90 vehicles in his lifetime and built his first car out of pieces he had collected. He was always "tinkering" with something. He also loved baseball and played first base during his younger years. Later he coached Pee Wee and Babe Ruth baseball for many years in Kalispell and coached several championship teams. He was very proud of that accomplishment.

Orville was a man of his word and was greatly respected by everyone who knew him. He had a great love for his family and was always there for them. He made each one of them feel very special and loved. He was a great man in every sense of the word.

Orville was preceded in death by his parents; four sisters; and five brothers. His beloved "Betsy" left his side Feb. 28, 2006. Orville had been waiting to join "his Betsy" since that day, and his family knows that they are now together forever, just as they had always planned.

He is survived by his daughter, Mary Ruth, and her husband, Hank Olson, and his son, Ronald, and his wife, Liz, all of Kalispell. He also is survived by his many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, to whom he was known as "Papa," and numerous nieces and nephews. He is also survived by two sisters, Carol Patterson and Miriam Mack; and four brothers, Duane, Dale, Leslie and Orin Fredenberg.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home. A reception will be afterward.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Renaissance Assisted Living facility, whose staff took loving care of Orville during the last month of his life; or to an Alzheimer's fund in memory of his "Betsy."

This paid obituary is being run again at the request of the family.