Russell 'Russ' Jay Hoeldt, 61
Russell ‘Russ’ Jay Hoeldt, 61
Russell “Russ” Jay Hoeldt was born Nov. 2, 1949, in Anchorage, Alaska. He lived in the Kalispell area for most of his childhood and teen years and attended Kalispell High School, receiving his GED in 1969.
Russ proudly served in the Army from 1969 to 1971. He was stationed in Germany with the Medic Corps and worked as a medic while there.
Russ worked at many different jobs, but being a sawyer in the woods was his favorite. He was a jack-of-all-trades.
He met and married Brenda DeShaw, whose three children, Davina, Tanya and Derek, he considered his own. They later divorced, but he and Brenda remained lifelong friends, companions and “sweethearts.”
Russ was an avid hunter and fisherman. He liked playing cribbage and gin with friends and family, doing crossword puzzles, and was a fan of old classic Westerns. Russ really enjoyed playing his guitar and singing songs. Russ’s grandkids were his world, as he was theirs, and he loved fishing, camping, and playing cards with them. He also spoiled them rotten with candy when he could get away with it. He was their one and only “Papa.”
It was Russ’s wish to spend his remaining time here on earth, at home, with his companion Brenda by his side. After four months of a dignified battle with cancer, and surrounded by his loving family, Russ peacefully slipped away on Aug. 28, 2011, to the sound of prayers.
“He left us behind to begin his eternal life.”
Russ was preceded in death by his father, Kenneth Hoeldt; mother, Cora Panchin; sisters, Elizabeth Hoeldt Sheehan and Jeweldeen Joyce; and nephew, Kyle Hickock.
Russ is survived by his mom, Marlys Hoeldt; companion and “sweetheart” Brenda DeShaw; daughters, Tanya and Davina DeShaw; sons, Derek DeShaw and Rusty Jackson; brother, Layne Hoeldt; sisters, Laurel Shephard, Lisa Vassar, Kelly Bigness and Diane Nelson; grandkids, Gaige and Tyler Gravelin, Cierra and Kassidy Dougherty, Dylan, Kayla, Brodyn and Trinity DeShaw, and Kaitlyn and Nathan Brown; good friends, Nick Bigness, Charlie Cunningham, Everett Vassar, Larry Baker, Doug Williams and Doug Cardin (and too many to name); numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Special thanks to Becky Hill.
Memorial services were given by Derek DeShaw and held on Sept. 1 at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home. Burial took place in the C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery in Kalispell.