James Wallace 'Wally' Bergmann, 97

James Wallace “Wally” Bergmann passed away peacefully at Greenwood Village Assisted Living in Kalispell on Aug. 31, 2011.

He was born in Newport, Minn., on Dec. 23, 1913, the son of James L. Bergmann and Nora Belle Stevens Bergmann. His family moved to International Falls, Minn., in 1921, where his father began working for the Great Northern Railroad.

In 1922 his father’s job moved him to Kalispell, and the family followed in 1923. His first year in Kalispell, Wally began the fourth grade.

When he was 12 years old, Wally began selling the Inter Lake newspaper on the streets of Kalispell. He made 2 and a half cents a copy. At 17 Wally delivered groceries on Saturdays for Sykes’ Cash Market for $2 a day. During the summers he worked at the Kila ore docks for $2 a day, and would get an extra 25 cents if he unloaded an 8-ton ore truck with a scoop shovel by himself.

Wally turned down a scholarship to college to stay home and help earn money for the family. Jobs were scarce during the Depression years, but about 1934, at the age of 20, Wally began cutting meat at the Outlaw Grocery, which was later purchased by Sykes’ Cash Market. The building the Outlaw Grocery occupied had been moved, but was the same building in which Wally attended the fourth grade.

In the late 1930s, Wally met his future wife, Mary Jane Petram, when she came shopping at the market. He continued cutting meat for Sykes’ Cash Market until the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Wally enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 8, 1941, and left for San Diego in January. After many letters, Mary Jane Petram followed him to San Diego where they were married on Oct. 3, 1942.

Shortly after their wedding, Wally was shipped out to Pearl Harbor and later served as chief commissary steward on the USS Baltimore. At one time, Wally was written up in the Stars and Stripes newspaper for serving fresh eggs to order, while at sea, for the entire ship’s crew of 1,500 as the men came through the chow line.

 At the end of the war, Wally and Mary Jane moved back to Kalispell where they raised their two children, and had 68 happy anniversaries!

Soon after arriving back in Kalispell, Wally began working at the meat packing plant near the Stillwater River on U.S. 2 East. The following spring he managed the Kalispell Meat Market, and later he managed the meat market for Super Foods, which was located at the corner of Idaho and First Street East.

In 1952, Wally had the opportunity to open his own meat market within Akers’ Grocery, where he remained for 31 years. After six months of retirement, Wally began working in a number of meat markets around Kalispell as a vacation replacement and then settled in at Sykes’ Grocery, until retiring at the age of 72.

At the age of 21, Wally was initiated into Kalispell’s Lake Lodge No. 50 of the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.). By 1941 he had worked his way through the “chairs” to be Noble Grand of Lake Lodge No. 50. In the 1950s Wally became district president, and in June 1989 he was honored with election to the highest office in the state: Montana Grand Master.

During the 1980s and ’90s, Wally and Mary Jane traveled extensively across the state to many local meetings; to three national meetings of the I.O.O.F. in Reno, Nev., Winston-Salem, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., as well as several meetings in Alberta and British Columbia.

Wally was a longtime member of Epworth United Methodist Church where he was a church usher for over 25 years. Throughout the years he assisted with many church maintenance projects, and he was also on the church board for several years. Wally also delivered Meals On Wheels for 12 years. There he was assigned to the homes in rural areas where he had learned his way around after years of walking Flathead County as a younger man.

Wally was preceded in death by his parents, Jim and Nora Bergmann; two brothers, Walter “Boots” Bergmann and Phil Bergmann; and sister, Margaret Croisettier.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane, of Kalispell; daughter, Ruth Levin, of Hayward, Calif.; son, Roger Bergmann, of Pomona, Calif.; two sisters, Glenyce Krogstad of Kalispell, and Patricia Plumb of Wenatchee, Wash.; two grandchildren, Jeremy Levin and Tali Myers; five great-grandchildren, Zakkary Levin, Reece and Lindsey Jane Myers, and Sophia and Alexander Levin; and many nieces and nephews.

The family is being assisted by Buffalo Hill Funeral Home and Crematory. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home, 1890 U.S. 93 North, Kalispell. Immediately following will be a graveside service with military honors at Glacier Memorial Gardens on U.S. 93 North. A reception in the basement meeting room of Epworth United Methodist Church, 329 Second Ave. E., Kalispell, will conclude the celebration of his life.

You are invited to go to www.buffalohillfh.com to offer condolences.