Eugene Francis Cadwell

Eugene Francis Cadwell was born the second child to Francis and Eleanor (Dinstel) Cadwell on May 22, 1952. Gene was brought home to the ranch at Ridge, MT where his family continued to live in a small one room cabin for a short time before the ranch house was built that year.

He attended the small one room school at Ridge until high school. His children were told numerous stories of adventures on the trips to school. One story often told was of one of his an apparently frequent trip through a culvert that met an abrupt halt when a skunk was discovered. The retreat however was made difficult by his winter coat that bunched up around him. Another story involved an ornery horse that preferred not having the children on her back and his older sister, Paula, that wasn't particularly sympathetic to her younger brother's plight. When Gene reached high school he spent the week in Broadus going to school and would come home to Ridge for the weekend. He was never much of a cook and his attempts at keeping himself nourished while in Broadus during the week involved heating cans of soup on the burner of the stove to avoid washing dishes.

After Gene graduated from high school in 1970 he went to a business college in Rapid City for a year and then to Calvary Christian College in OH for a year. He then went to college At Hobe Sound Bible College in Hobe Sound, FL. While there in college, he met Debra Koon. They both graduated in May of 1976 and then were married on June 18th of that year. After they were married they lived in Isabella, PA for about 9 years. Gene helped his father in law pastor the church there and also worked in construction. While they lived in Isabella their Two children, David and Bethany were born.

In 1985 the family moved to Northwest Indian Bible School in Alberton, MT. Gene had helped with building the boys dorm building shortly before and when he returned he and Debra agreed that God was moving on their hearts to help at the school. Gene and Debra served as the boy's dorm parents, teaching, and Gene doing the maintenance there at the school for 7 years and then spent another year out of the boy's dorm.

In 1993 the family moved back to the ranch, where Gene was raised, to help there. Gene continued to live there until his death as the 3rd generation to work the ranch. Gene pastored the church in Ridge for many years. He and Debra were also very involved in the church camp they started there in 1995. It was a large part of their year.

In 2014, Debra passed away suddenly 3 days after Christmas.

In January 2017, Gene Married Rebecca Plummer. They continued to be involved in the church camp and travelled some as well doing children's work for camps.
Gene and Becky were tragically taken together in a head on collision on December 9, 2025.

Gene was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Debra, his sister, Paula, and his brother, Steven.

He is survived by his two children, David and Julia (Weicht) Cadwell of Ridge, and Bethany and husband Martin Hunt, and their children Carolina, Georgia, Dakota, Alaska, Kentucky, Montana, and Tennessee of Buffalo, WY and his younger sister Rebecca and Roger Bingaman of Rapid City.