Willard Rieman

ENNIS - Willard passed away on Sept. 20, 2010, at the Madison Valley Medical Center, from complications of a stroke, at the age of 87.

He was born on Sept. 30, 1922, at St. Vincent Hospital in Billings. He was born at 4:30 a.m. and, up to the end, he still got up early to start his day. He went to grade school in Ballantine and graduated from Huntley Project High School in 1942.

Chores were a part of Willard's life as soon as he was big enough, from feeding chickens, to getting the horses saddled, to herding the milk cows along the road to graze. Farming and ranching was all Willard wanted to do after graduation.

He managed and owned several ranches in the Bull Mountains. In 1951, he sold his ranch to homestead in Canada, but plans changed when he met his future wife, Joyce, and was married in the fall of 1951. They moved to Granite Creek by Virginia City, and started a ranch there. This is where their three children, Eileen, Barbara and Bill, were born. He later moved back to Ballantine after his father had a heart attack to help out by farming full time and starting another cow herd. He worked both places, in Ballantine, raising wheat, hay and operating a feed lot, and in Virginia City, raising cattle. He retired in the early 1980s. He and Joyce enjoyed traveling and spending the winter months in Arizona. His favorite trip was to Alaska on a cruise.

Joyce passed away in June 2007, and he moved to Ennis in 2009. He was very happy, and made a lot of friends. He always enjoyed friends visiting and loved to show them around. He had a big yard with many of trees and flowers to take care of, and had great pride in his garden and greenhouse.

Willard was a hard worker all his life, and enjoyed being busy. He enjoyed planting seeds and trees, and watching them grow. He was a rock hound. He was always on the lookout for rocks, whether picking them from his fields and yards because they were a nuisance, or looking for perfect agates to cut and polish.

He is preceded in death by wife, Joyce; sister, Florence; brother, Ray; and son, Bill. He is survived by his daughters, Eileen (George) Jensen of Ballantine and Barbara (Olen) Raisland of Reed Point; and sister Shirley Thomas of Worden; six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

A open house and luncheon for all of Willard's friends in Madison County will be held at his home on Killdeer Loop in Ennis, Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m.

A graveside service is planned for 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 27, at the Pleasantview Cemetery in Ballantine. Visitation begins 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, at Smith Downtown Chapel, located at 925 S. 27th St.

Memorial donations can be sent to charity of one's choice.