Joseph Carl Klempel Jr., 90

Joseph Carl Klempel Jr., 90, of Bigfork, heard the trumpet call to his eternal home up yonder, where there is no pain, only peace, on June 23, 2010. Joey was born in a log-sod house on his parents homestead out in the hills southwest of Lambert. He began his education in the Round Butte School where he walked or rode a horse six miles one way. He later attended Sidney Elementary School. At age 14 he moved with his parents to a farm in the Yellowstone Valley, north of Savage. There as a teenager he sang in a family trio at church and on the radio. He especially enjoyed singing bass in the song When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. In 1943 at the First Baptist Church in Sidney, he married his sweetheart and lifetime partner, Annie Almond, his wife of 67 years. They farmed near Crane, raising sugar beets, corn, chickens, milk and beef cows, and a garden. During this time Joey also helped feed out feeder lambs for his parents and helped with lambing for different sheep ranchers. He was a good neighbor to many, especially in time of need. A man of few words, but in that few he said much. He loved riding and working with horses even as a young child. He was a cowboy and rancher at heart. He owned two outstanding saddle horses, Pepper and Midnight, and often rode 30 miles from the valley farm to the homestead to herd cattle or sheep. During the 1950s he horse logged in the Flathead Valley west of Kalispell. Prior to his retirement, he would rather rake a field of hay with a team of mules than do the job with a tractor. In August 1947 he moved his wife and family to the Flathead Valley and bought property. They harvested and sold wild trees in the fall for many years to various tree yards in Kalispell, Phoenix and Utah. In 1958 he bought a farm in Bigfork, where he raised Black Angus cattle and had a dairy for a number of years. He gave his nine children spiritual values and a strong work ethic. He was preceded in death by parents, Joseph Sr. and Martha Nollmeyer Klempel; three brothers; two sisters; and one daughter, Delia May Klempel. He is survived by his wife, Annie Klempel, at the family home in Bigfork; his children, Pat Burnham and Wes of Columbia Falls; Doris Rost and Jon of Whitefish, Edith Benson and Duane of Bigfork, Naoimi Oldfield and Bob of Chandler, Ariz., Joe Klempel III and Gina of Kalispell, Cathy Benson and Jerry, Ron Klempel and Lisa, and Richard Klempel and Rachel of Bigfork; sisters-in-law, Harriet, Ethel and Lois Klempel; grandchildren, Denise Oldfield, Nicole (Klempel) Shoshenskiy, Collin Klempel, Jay Dee Rost, Heidi Oldfield Obey, Kim Rost, Gregory Oldfield, Martin Burnham, Violet Benson, Stephanie Benson Lepinski, Justin Benson, Daryn Benson, Crystal Burnham, Daryl Benson, Candy Burnham, James Barnhart, Brenda Benson Olson, Jenny Klempel Miner, Jessie Klempel, Rainey Klempel and Levi Klempel; and 12 great-grandchildren. A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. today, Monday, June 28, at the Little Brown Church with the Rev. Pat Pierce officiating. Interment will follow at Lone Pine Cemetery, next to his daughter Delia May. Friends are encouraged to visit the Web site at www.buffalohillfh.com to leave notes of condolences for the family. Buffalo Hill Funeral Home is caring for the family.