Richard Conrad Rosman

CONRAD - Richard Conrad Rosman, 80, a Navy veteran, of Conrad, died of cancer Sunday at a Conrad medical facility.
Visitation is 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday at Pondera Funeral Home in Conrad. His funeral is 11 a.m. Friday at the Conrad Mission Church, with burial in Hillside Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife of 38 years, Darlene; daughters Debra (Tim) Schaff of Fishtail, Holli (Tim) Stevenson of Florence, Beth (Garth) McCoy of Coutts, Alberta, and Sherri (Gene) Peigneux of Billings; a brother, Albert (Allie) Rosman of Vernon, British Columbia; a sister, Constance Rosman of Stanford; sisters-in-law Elaine Rosman of Havre and Gae Rosman Gorup of Stanford; grandchildren Rachelle (Kelvin) Harrel, Shaundra and Tyrele Schaff, Shania Peigneux, Cory (Heather) Cebulla, Traci (Justin) Brock, Janene Stalford, Kevin, Jordan, and Kayla McCoy; four great-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Pearl Rosman; and two brothers, David and Virgil Rosman.
Dick was born Jan. 15, 1927, in Mocassin to Albert and Pearl Rosman. He attended school in Fort Benton, Hobson, Utica and Wind-ham. In 1944 at age 17, he joined the Navy during World War II and was trained in amphibious landing crafts at the Coronado Naval Base in California. He was sent overseas in 1945 to the South Pacific (the Philippines, Okinawa and Leyte), as well as China and many other locations. Dick took great pride in his service to his country. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of Coxswain. At this time, he returned to Montana and attended Rocky Mountain Vocational School in Billings on the G.I. Bill.
Dick worked as a ranch hand and mechanic before going to work for Lewis & O'Neill Construction, who had the contract for building the power lines for the REA Power Company. While working for them on a job in Browning, he took 7,200 volts of electricity when his hand accidentally touched a live wire. He was not seriously injured but sustained a slight burn on his left hand and right heel as a souvenir. None the worse for his experience, he was back on the job several hours later. That same year he took 2,300 volts on a power line while working in Cut Bank. Some say that is where he got his electrifying personality.
In 1952, he went to work for the telephone company (Mountain Bell, AT&T, then U.S. West). After being transferred across the state of Montana (Cut Bank, Browning, East Glacier, West Glacier, St. Mary's, Malta, Glasgow, Cascade, Wolf Creek and Miles City to name a few) he was transferred to Con-rad in 1962 where he worked as a combination man, going house to house and working on telephone lines. Dick retired from U.S. West in January 1988 after 35 years. He found retirement difficult as he missed the many friends and acquaintances he had made in those 35 years.
In 1970, he married Darlene Dabney, and in 1971 they purchased their farm/ranch north-west of Conrad. Dick had always wanted his own cattle so began his registered Black Angus cattle operation known as the "Rosman Angus Ranch." While both Dick and Darlene had full-time careers, their farm/ranch was their real passion as they enjoyed working it together. Dick enjoyed his cattle until 1994, when with much regret the cattle were sold due to the lack of available summer pasture. Dick continued to farm for several years after that. The couple moved to town in 2003.
Dick was a very loving and generous husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He was a man of integrity and a pillar of strength for every-one who knew him as well as someone everyone could depend on. He will be remembered for his love of life, his sense of humor, his care and compassion toward others and his absolute devotion to his family. He will be greatly missed by all of those who knew him.
The family suggests memorials be given to the Benefis Healthcare Foundation Gift of Life Family Housing Center or Peace Hospice of Montana for Pondera County.
Condolences may be posted online at www.gftribune.com/obituaries.