Richard Frank Blanchet, 93

Richard Frank Blanchet “slipped quietly from this life” early Sunday morning May 28, 2017.

He was born Feb. 19, 1924, to Louis Joseph Blanchet and Annie Lilly Clarke in Creston. Richard was joined two years later by his only sibling sister Grace Louise. She preceded him in death in 2012. They supported each other all of their lives as neither married.

Richard attended Fairview school and graduated from Flathead County High School in 1924. He supported the war effort by farming with his father to help provide for our nation’s troops. He and his father continued to farm and raise cattle after the war.

Richard wrote in a diary every day of his life starting in his 20s as evidenced by the stacks of books. They contained on one page, in tiny concise writing, every action each day including the bananas and cookies eaten. Each day included a detailed account of the weather; temperature, visibility, wind direction, rain, snow, etc. Family members have read the journals learning of life on the farm in winter, mud, heat, cold, with an absence of water, sewer and electricity.

Richard was at the Immanuel Lutheran Home for a few short years and learned another way of living closely with friends, song, movies, celebrations, and warm food.

He was well liked and his close friends will miss him.

Richard’s family was small, but he had many loving and helpful neighbors who were there to support him with rides, phones, groceries and animal husbandry skills. He knew he could depend on them. Orrin Webber was a special friend to Richard.

Richard is survived by multiple levels of cousins with Blanchet first cousins, Patricia McClarty and Russell Blanchet; Clarke first cousins, Susan Clarke Kitchen, Harold Clarke, and Ernie Clarke. His second, third and fourth cousins are numerous and include the recently celebrated Butte Blanchet cousins.

A public viewing will be held from noon to 2 p.m. on Monday, June 5, at Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 6, at Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home with a burial to follow at Glacier Memorial Gardens. A gathering will be held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church following the graveside service in the Commons Room. Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for the family.