William Haley Rice, 79

William Haley Rice was a lion of a man. Blessed to be a part of his life, his family is gutted to announce his passing on June 15, 2021.

He was predeceased by parents Dr. William L. and Treasure Rice and sister Treasure Ann Sachnoff (Bruce).

He leaves behind wife and beloved key to his heart, Peg Rice, his spawn Haley Bianca (Paul), Jason Cajune (Vedra) and Sarah Smith, his nephew Brian Anderson (Carly), his grandchildren Lindsey Greene (Travis), Heather Peterson (Mike), Vincent Bianca, Sophia Cajune, Elsamin Cajune and Courage Smith, and his great-grandchildren Aliyah Peterson, Mia Peterson and Mason Bianca, to live on by way of his impressive example.

Born in Detroit on Oct. 8, 1941, Bill grew up in Brighton, Michigan, attended Albion College and graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science degree. While attending Detroit College of Law, he was drafted and joined the U.S. Air Force, serving our country as an air traffic control weatherman at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Great Falls. It was this great fortune of being assigned to Montana that guided him to the Flathead Valley at the end of his USAF duty where he met Art Burch Sr., beginning a 50-year connection with Glacier National Park and the Burch family business, Glacier Park Boat Company. Bill operated the Two Medicine boat concession, captaining the 45-foot wooden excursion boat “Sinopah” in that incredible valley for 30 years, a job he referred to as the best he ever had, and he never left Montana again. As a dream of his younger years, he finally took a trip to New Zealand in 1985, where he and Peg purchased a home in the Bay of Islands and spent a majority of their winters there over the last three decades. The deep friendships that evolved from those worlds sustained and carried him throughout his life.

Bill was a man that recognized opportunities that arose in his life and took advantage of them to their fullest. One of those chance encounters was when he met Peg, his wife and partner of over 40 years. They were exactly what each other was looking for, which became a solid series of love stories … Montana, New Zealand, and the two of them.

Bill was a user-friendly human being made up of a million different moving parts. There isn’t enough ink in all of the world to prepare this obituary in his name completely. He was a keen observer of the world and had the ability to speak clearly about an astonishing range of subjects in an eloquent, composed manner. He listened with perfection, never seeking to be the center of attention. Yet when he spoke, the room would turn in anticipation of his observations that were delivered with a combination of humor, pinpoint accuracy and depth. For decades he was the master of fish frys at the Two Medicine cabin, top dog on opening day pheasant hunting trips with the boys (and granddaughter!) in Great Falls, and he ruled the “royal hang” with a glass of wine in the evenings. He was a boat builder, a mentor, a counselor of life lessons, a voracious reader, a lover of music, a champion, a hero, a rock, the master of storage, a king of kings, the leader of our pack, a magic man, the ace of spades, the captain of our boat; he was gracious and brilliant and funny. He was a raconteur extraordinaire who collected his own and retold those of others. He hosted actors and filmmakers in Glacier National Park in the ‘70s and promoted “happenings” and rock ’n’ roll legends in Detroit in the ‘60s. He once gift-wrapped a live ground squirrel for a dear friend’s birthday; he was a member of the Lodge Brotherhood, co-founding member of CBNZ, and proud member of the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club in New Zealand. He was Fork Man; he was the undefeated champion of Jumbo Valley in college and an avid hater of mayonnaise. He was co-founder and member of the Stoolies. He was a minister of the Mother Earth Church and wielded that mighty power to unite in marriage not only various friends — but also his son Jason to the beautiful bride Vedra. He was a founding member of B&J Racing and raced a 1955 Chevy named MadDog (a real screamer!). He placed first in one race and then MadDog burst into flames the next, thus ending his racing career.

He leaves a giant hole in life for all of us so lucky to love him and have been caught up in his vast, quiet orbit of perfect understated wisdom, beautiful dark humor and a laugh that could bring neighborhoods down in both hemispheres. He was a man who was strikingly handsome with a smile and laugh that would transform any group of people into a festival. He was stealthily wise when talking with his friends and family and knew exactly how and what to say in order for his message to resonate. In addition to providing advice (only when asked), he openly offered words of great admiration which supported and applauded the smallest of things that he felt a person should feel good about when reflecting on themselves. It was always important to him that his family and friends were recognizing their own individual greatness and value in life. He had a special devotion to all in his life and his relationships with anyone lucky enough to have been in his company were individual, specific and deep. All of us who mourn the loss of this man struggle as we feel the intense warmth of our specific connection to him well up strongly in our memory, heart and soul. Family and friends aspire to be more like him, as he was the coolest of cats, the dude, who carried no enemies in his wake. Above all, he has been at the very core of each of our beating hearts since the day each one of us entered his world.

In the end, as we all cried out “Wait! No! Not Now!, we came to realize that we cannot select the time for the loss of a loved one. It is the natural progression of life and we feel blessed that we had the gift of a bonus five years with him after recovery from a heart attack. He couldn’t have done any better with the timing of his earthly exit. In the end, he graced us with a decisive nod that he was moving on and was done here. We are fortunate to know that when he left us, family and friends were waiting for him on the other side to begin another adventure out of our immediate reach. We know we have an open invitation to join him for another round of laughs when each of our times come. As deaths go, he really stuck the landing.

He has now gone back to the source and his grand laughter and gentle, loving hands await us another day. With that being said, we are all just trying to “rub a little dirt on it” and move forward with our sorrow.

Class act Bill.

The family will honor his wishes and privately scatter his ashes in the lands he so loved.

In lieu of flowers, any charitable donations may be sent to North West Veterans Stand Down & Food Pantry at 1349 Hwy. 2 East, Kalispell, MT 59901; 406-756-7304; Web: https://veteransfoodpantry.org. This is an organization he greatly admired and worked with over the years through his storage business in Evergreen.