Floyd F. Cheff

Floyd left us gently and peacefully on his deceased daughter Elaine Ployhar's birthday, March 22, 2014, surrounded by his surviving six children and wife Cecelia.

Floyd was born Aug. 11, 1918, the sixth of 14 children born to Marie and Ovila Cheff, in the shadow of the spectacular Mission Mountains in Ronan. The Cheffs were one of the first families to homestead on the Flathead Indian Reservation at the turn of the 20th century. Floyd grew up speaking French as a first language, in a close-knit, loving immigrant community that included many native peoples counted as family. His childhood was idyllic, not to be repeated in modern times.

In 1937, he married Anna Mae Minster. Shortly after, the couple moved to the Blackfoot Valley in Potomac, where Floyd worked many jobs, including WPA work on the McNamara's landing bridge and the Hungry Horse Dam. He worked as a trapper, ditch runner and logger. Floyd logged for many years, sawing first with a crosscut saw, then with a two-man chainsaw and later with the new one-man saw. He was known for his near-perfect cut logs.

He often worked on other people's ranches, always with an eye on HIS prize, which was acquiring his beloved ranch at the entrance to the Potomac Valley, a feat he accomplished with single-minded determination and hard work in July of 1948. He told us the first day he walked the perimeter, kneeling every hundred yards to kiss the ground.

Floyd always had a vision and a plan for his ranch, and never stopped improving it. Knowing that water was key to success, he mastered irrigation, both flood and aerial. He also had the first pipe irrigation system in the valley. He had many successes and accomplishments, including breeding prize-winning thoroughbred race horses and introducing some of the first Simmental cattle into the state of Montana. He never learned to tolerate messes or rocks.

The Cheff ranch became a landmark in the Potomac Valley with its red-and-white Gothic arch barn proudly displaying the F-C brand, and the very pink ranch-style house.

Floyd and Anna Mae raised seven children, all with a solid work ethic and a heart to care for others. Together they guided many more young people, both in work and relationships. Classic role models, their motto was always to do just a little bit more.

After the death of his beloved Anna Mae, Floyd got a second chance at love and happiness with his childhood sweetheart, Cecelia Shepard Halseth. They enjoyed three happy and contented years together.

Floyd was preceded in death by his parents, Marie and Ovila; wife of 73 years, Anna Mae; daughter Elaine Ployhar; sons-in-law Martin Ployhar and Craig Farley; grandsons Lou Ployhar, Brandon Cheff, Coulter Cheff and Jeff Bardwell; and his brothers and sisters Leo, Rex, Bernida, Grace, Josephine, Bud, Chris, Ray, Jim, Louie and Vela.

He is survived by his wife Cecelia; brothers Clarence and Herman; children Jim (Patsy), Joann Farley, Ed (Patti), Tom (Heidi), Cherie Jacobsen (Ken) and Steve (Bev); 28 grandchildren; 56 great-grandchildren; and 15 great-great-grandchildren. As Cheffs, when we heard the good Lord say, "Go forth and multiply," we took him serious.

Floyd's heart is forever in the Potomac Valley. When you feel the breeze blowing through the evergreen hillsides, when you hear the wild geese make their annual migrations north then south again, when you see the ducks nesting along Union Creek and the beavers endlessly damming it, when you see red and white calves bucking and frolicking in the pastures, when you see the sun glint off the Rain Bird sprinklers, and smell the summer air scented with fresh cut alfalfa – think of Floyd.

Visitation will be held at Garden City Funeral Home at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 27, with a vigil to be held at 7 p.m. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 28, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, followed by a reception at Reidy Hall. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens
Read Floyd Cheff's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.