Longest-serving commissioner Howard Gipe dies

Howard Gipe, the longest-serving Flathead County commissioner, died Sunday, April 29, at age 86.

Gipe held the District 2 commission seat from 1987 through 2004 before leaving office to work as a business manager for a friend who had commercial interests across the state.

He left a legacy of fairness and open communications in county government. Gipe, a Republican, always worked closely with the Montana Association of Counties because he believed that keeping a close watch on the legislative process ultimately helped Flathead County and its taxpayers.

“I spent a lot of time with the Legislature because I found out you didn’t have control over all you thought you had control over,” he said in a 2005 Daily Inter Lake interview.

Backed by his supporters, Gipe attempted to re-enter local politics in 2010 when he ran to get his old job back. Current District 2 Commissioner Pam Holmquist beat him in the primary election that year and went on to win the general election.

Prior to that he had never lost an election, including the two times he ran for the Chinook school board in the 1960s.

Gipe was born in Great Falls and lived near Kila as a child, attending school there in 1938. His family moved to Moccasin, near Lewistown, the next year, which is where he finished high school. He took a job with the Montana Elevator Co. in Montague and at age 20 became a grain buyer.

He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1952 and, among other assignments, spent nine months in Okinawa as a B-29 gunner. When his service ended in 1956, he returned to Montague to farm and made a go of it for several years. But he didn’t have access to enough land to make it as a full-time farmer, so Gipe spent as much as half his time working at other jobs to make ends meet.

In 1961, he followed a friend’s suggestion and joined the Montana Highway Patrol. He was stationed in Chinook for eight years, then Kalispell, where he was sergeant for the last eight years of his law-enforcement career. He left the highway patrol in 1986, the same year he was elected commissioner.

He started out his new position with confidence, Gipe recalled in a 2005 interview, remembering how his confidence quickly evaporated.

“One thing I was certain about is that I knew everything there was about county government,” Gipe told the Inter Lake. “I had been close to county government for 25 years with the Highway Patrol,” he said. “Actually, when I got there, I found out about all I knew about county government was where the [justice of the peace’s] office was.”

Subdivision and planning issues proved baffling at first. While his law enforcement and supervisory experience helped, he was still grappling with things like budget planning and lobbying the state Legislature for the first time.

Gipe nevertheless persevered, and met with success.

“He was respected by the taxpayers and those who worked for him,” said former Commissioner Sharon Stratton, who served with Gipe from 1991 through 1996. “During his tenure he became one of the county’s most well-respected commissioners.”

Stratton said that although he was a Republican and she’s a Democract, they worked “shoulder to shoulder” on county issues.

“We could discuss things, we got along well and he became a really good friend,” Stratton said.

Gipe was popular enough by 1992 to narrowly defeat a challenge from former Commissioner Henry Oldenburg in the Republican primary election, according to Inter Lake archives. It was Oldenburg whom Gipe defeated in the 1986 primary to first secure his path to the commissioners’ office.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 12, at Easthaven Baptist Church. Following the service at 2 p.m. a procession will take place down Main Street in Kalispell to honor his service to the community. Those who would like to join in one final ride with Gipe are encouraged to do so; staging will commence in the field across from the Towne Printer. United Veterans of the Flathead and the U.S. Air Force provide military honors.

A full obituary is scheduled to run in Sunday’s Inter Lake.

Features Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.