Eugene Tommie Corntassel

Eugene Tommie Corntassel, 94, of Missoula, with a full head of hair, twinkling blue eyes and the toughness and tenacity of a bulldog, died peacefully in his sleep at home Tuesday, June 28, 2016.

Gene was born on Dec. 8, 1921, in Westville, Oklahoma, to Tommie and Essie Corntassel. That year Warren G. Harding was president and the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing a World Series. He was a Cherokee descendant of those who walked the Trail of Tears. Gene grew up in Oklahoma with six brothers and one sister and after losing a younger brother at age 7, his father at age 10 and his mother at age 15, he learned to live life simply and handle loss and hardship at an early age. In his teens he lived at the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School, one of many federal schools designed to dissolve tribal identity and erase indigenous beliefs and practices. While there, Gene learned the organic gardening trade, developing his secret compost formula that produced giant potatoes, tomatoes and the tallest corn you could imagine.

He served our country in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II from October 1942 to December 1945. After being honorably discharged, Dad worked on construction of the Hungry Horse Dam, as a USPS mail carrier in Orange County, California, and Tulsa (he liked to tell the story of delivering mail to Anita Bryant, a fellow Okie) and honed his lifelong love of compartmentalizing everything into cardboard boxes (sometimes to his family’s chagrin.)

On Aug. 11, 1959, he married Ramona Jean Houseman in Miami, Oklahoma, and they began their almost 44 year story together, being the Yin to her Yang, before she passed in 2003. Son Brian Gene was born and daughter Teresa Gail followed while living in Oklahoma. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Kalispell, where Gene found employment at the Post Office doing multiple jobs, earning the nickname “Ringo” for his style and routinely winning the weekly newspaper NFL pick ‘em contests.

While in the Flathead during the 1960s, sons David Jay, Bradley Dean and Rodney Dale were born. When Bradley was just three months old he died of what was then called crib death. But as always, Gene displayed his trademark calm, strength and quiet perseverance for the family during that difficult time. In the 1970s Gene became a small business owner in Florence, commuting from Kalispell on weekends so he could continue working at the Post Office to support his family for a number of years. In 1981 the family moved to Missoula where Gene settled into a place where he could garden, putt around the house and live a quiet life.

He is survived by his children, Brian, Teresa Lee, David and Rodney (Kristy); his sister June (Vic); grandchildren, Angela, Bradley and Matthew and great-granddaughter Addy (“that girl”). Gene was preceded in death by his wife Ramona; son Bradley; great-grandson Elliott Guerin; his parents and brothers, Farris Dean, A.D., Leon, E.O., Martin and E.P.

Cremation has taken place at Garden City Funeral Home and a family graveside memorial at Conrad Memorial Cemetery in Kalispell is planned for a future date.

Known to many as “Jeep”, he will always be remembered for honesty, his love of reading Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey Westerns, fishing creeks and streams in Montana with the family, singing little ditties he mostly made up on the spot, his love of the Oklahoma Sooners and Cleveland Indians and whistling quietly when he got nervous. He taught his kids the importance of a strong work ethic through his quiet example (whether helping David with logging projects during the hot summer months or showing up in his 80s to help walk a paper route with Teresa before dawn) and he always hoped for peace and harmony. We loved his kindness, his sweetness, his strength, his patience and just for being so damn cool his whole life. And, of course, those cardboard boxes! We will miss him.