John Jewell Cheesman

Dad often told a story about walking past the cemetery in St. Regis and seeing an elderly woman standing alone, looking at a headstone. He imagined that she was looking at her own grave and, from that day forward, carried with him the idea of writing a book about someone looking back from the end and telling the story of their life in reverse.

There were a lot of books dad should have written. There were a lot of stories only he could tell and perhaps a few tall tales only he could make believable. He never got around to writing that book, so to honor him and the idea he carried for all those years, I am going to do my best to tell his story that way, beginning at the end and walking backward through one extraordinary life.

John Jewell Cheesman. Johnny to his mama and Grandma Ida; Banker, and perhaps Cupid to his best friend Vern; Pussywillow John in Texas; Uncle John to many; Papa John to countless others; Big Bad Dad to some; the Warden, the Boss, and Pops, Dad, Papa, Daddio, my hero, my role model, my biggest supporter, and my rock to me - left this world on Sunday, August 30, 2026.

He was 84 years old.

John died at St. Patrick Hospital surrounded by love, with his wife, children, grandchildren, and closest friends, Vern and Rose Gotcher, beside him. He had spent the final two weeks of his life fighting for more time with his family. As he said, “I’ve got a little fight left in me,” and John Cheesman was never one to step down from a challenge.

Those last two weeks were spent with a revolving door of visitors and what felt more like a party than a hospital stay in Room 404. There were stories, memories, plenty of laughter, a few tall tales, and even some matchmaking.

Papa kept most of the nurses laughing with his big smile, jolly attitude, sense of humor, words of wisdom, and just the right amount of sass. His family will forever be grateful for his nurse Jenelle, along with the many others who cared for him so wonderfully in his final days and treated him like an old friend.

Before he left us, we had the rare gift of being able to tell him what he meant to us while he was still here to hear it. We loved him with our whole heart. Thanked him for raising us to be fiercely independent, insanely capable, soft with the people we love, honest even when honesty is difficult, and strong enough to survive whatever life puts in front of us. He taught us to love and support one another and to take care of family. He was our rock.

Most people never get that opportunity. Life passes by, people grow older, and suddenly the words we meant to say remain unsaid. If John’s life teaches us anything, let it be this: Tell people what you need to tell them now. If you love them, tell them. If they have made a mistake, be honest enough to tell them. If you owe someone an apology, give it. Do not wait, and do not leave the people you love guessing.

John is survived by Mary Jane Cheesman, his wife and the love of his life for 54 years; his children, John Anthony “Tony” Cheesman, William George Cheesman and his wife, Amy, Jennifer LeeAnn Cheesman, Buffy Katrina Cheesman, Kasandra “Kassie” Jewel Perkins, and Tyler Mercedes Cheesman; and his grandchildren Ashley Cheesman, Courtney Cheesman, Zechariah Flandreau, Baylee Pruitt, John Pruitt and Arabella “Bella” Cheesman.

He is also survived by a multitude of nieces and nephews spanning Montana, Kentucky, Arkansas, and beyond, as well as many other people John claimed as his “adopted” children, and grandchildren. Among them are Ken Welch; the Pruitt girls, Janelle, Marie, Heather, and Jacey: Jordann Murphy; Sterling Gray; Owen Doyle; Amanda Duncan; Brittany Indreland; and the Swope Kids: Jonathan, Brandon, and Stephanie; Alica Chan and Palm Prepachan and so many more who were lucky enough to be welcomed into John’s enormous extended family.

John was preceded in death by his father, Fred Washington Cheesman; his mother, Daisie Junia Cheesman; infant brother, Washington Cheesman; his sisters, Carol Faye Dyer and Winnie May Emerson; his niece, Debby Thomas; and his son-in-law, Morgan Thomas Perkins.

John’s memorial service will be held Thursday, September 3rd at 6:00 p.m. in the St. Regis School Gymnasium. A small graveside service for family members, friends and pallbearers will follow. All guests are asked to remain for a reception dinner in the St. Regis Cafeteria, where memories will be made, tall tales will be told, good food will be eaten, and friends and family will have the opportunity to share their very best John Cheesman stories.

And now, as Dad imagined all those years ago, we begin walking backward.

At the age of 72, after what most people would consider retirement, John began yet another business venture with Mary, Exit 33 Lawn & Garden in St. Regis. There he tinkered, visited with customers, painted colorful Mexican metal yard art, and sold it to the many tourists traveling through town.

During those later years, he may have moved a little slower, but he never stopped showing up. He continued traveling throughout Western Montana to support his grandchildren at their sporting events and of course to help keep everyone in line.

Before Exit 33, John was involved with the St. Regis Antique Gallery and raised miniature horses, miniature donkeys, miniature mules, and llamas. He was never afraid to try something new, turn an unusual idea into a business, or find another way to earn a dollar and provide for his family.

Throughout his lifetime, John was truly a jack of all trades. He worked as a paperboy, grocery store employee, forester, serviceman, bartender, gas station manager, café manager, mill worker, dried-flower artist, craftsman, exotic-animal farmer, antique dealer, flea-market vendor, and metal-art salesman. More than anything, John was an entrepreneur. He was never afraid of hard work or of doing whatever needed to be done to support his family. He valued family, honesty, a strong work ethic, and service to his community. He was not afraid to speak up for the things he believed in or to offer a little life advice, whether it was requested or not.

John gave an extraordinary portion of his life to the community he loved. He served for 29 years on the St. Regis School Board, 12 years on the St. Regis Community Council, and many years on the St. Regis Resort Board. He also helped with the St. Regis Flea Market in one way or another from nearly its beginning. John was always ready to support a big idea or community project if he believed it could make St. Regis a better place. He continually looked for ways to make school safer, better, and more fun for local children.

John believed that everyone should volunteer in their community because, as he often said, “If you don’t have volunteers, you don’t have a community.”

In 1991, at the age of 49, John and Mary welcomed their surprise sixth child, Tyler Mercedes. When Mary told John that Dr. Park said she was pregnant at 47 years old, John nearly drove off the road.

During those years, John managed the OK Café in St. Regis and put his creativity and craftsmanship to work refinishing antiques, building birdhouses, and making wreaths and dried-flower arrangements out of nearly anything he could gather. His materials included pussy willows, baby’s breath, tansy, dogwood, snowberry brush, and rose hips. Several times each year, John loaded up his creations and made the long trek to Canton Trade Days in Texas. There, he became known as “Pussywillow John.” He sold his crafts and purchased wicker furniture and antiques to bring back to Montana and sell.

They became traveling gypsies before traveling gypsies were a thing, living in Bouse, Arizona, for two years, to help Harvey Clyde in his last days, before returning home, because St. Regis was always home.

In 1982, John and Mary welcomed their fifth—Kassie says “oops”—child, Kasandra “Kassie” Jewel.

Those years brought the family plenty of adventures and quite a bit of moving around. When Kassie was born, John and Mary owned the Little River Motel in St. Regis, where they operated a petting zoo filled with nearly every kind of animal imaginable, including wallabies and a parrot.

When that business venture ended, the family briefly moved to Arkansas, where John and Mary worked as flea market vendors throughout the east. They spent time in Arkansas and Kentucky with family before eventually making their way back to Montana, where they settled in St. Regis for the remainder of their life together.

The 1970s brought John and Mary their daughters: Buffy Katrina in 1975 and Jennifer LeeAnn in 1973…exactly nine months and three days after their wedding.

When the girls were young, the family operated a small exotic-animal farm in St. Regis. Their collection included a bear, an African lion, emus, rheas, ostriches, muntjac deer, llamas, and bulldogs. John recently shared that he had once been offered a camel and had even considered buying an elephant. However, after learning that an elephant could eat six bushels of cabbage a day, he decided that even he could not afford that particular adventure.

The exotic-animal venture eventually ended when John and Mary sold the ranch and moved south to warmer weather. This would be their first move to Arkansas, to be closer to family.

John married the love of his life, Mary, on September 1, 1972. Soon after their marriage, he adopted Mary’s two sons, Tony and George, and raised and loved them as his own.

John and Mary first met during the winter of 1971, when Mary and her sister Marie were driving around the “big city” of St. Regis. Mary remembered that John and Tommy Simkins stopped and talked to them. Soon afterward, John and Mary were both working road construction while Interstate 90 was being built over Lookout Pass. They began getting to know one another, started dating, and were married approximately 10 months later.

Shortly before meeting Mary, John began another of the longest and most meaningful relationships of his life: his friendship with Vern Gotcher. John and Vern traveled across the United States together, buying and selling antiques and collecting enough stories, and tall tales, to fill several books. They raised their families together in St. Regis and eventually even wound up distantly related. Vern remained John’s best friend until John’s final day.

In 1968 and 1969, John worked at the post yard alongside Wally Johnson, Ernie Esthers, and others. Together, they split cedar rails and posts entirely by hand—hard, physical work well suited to a man who was never afraid to earn his way through life.

Before that, John was drafted during the Vietnam War and served in the United States Army from 1964 to 1966. His service took him to Saigon, as well as to several locations stateside.

John graduated from St. Regis High School in 1960 - once a Tiger, always a Tiger - after spending the previous three years living in Arkansas. During high school, John worked at Ed and Gussie Kacalek’s gas station. It is also remembered that he may have worked at Gene Collins’ truck stop—one of many jobs in the early years of a lifetime defined by hard work.

As a boy, John attended Sunday school at the Methodist Church. Around 1950 or 1951, he was part of the first Sunday school class held in the new Methodist Church, with Pauline Mainwaring as his teacher.

John had moved to St. Regis with his parents when he was four years old, following a brief period living in Missoula. During his grade-school years, he met many of the people who would remain his lifelong friends, including Kathy Davis, BettyDawn Norlander, Lois Simpson, Linda Esterby, Terry Lowen, Bob Clyde, Dick & Token Ward, Shine Ward, Tommy “Tool” Simkins, Jim Kelly, the Welch family and Barb & Morris Hill. He spent his childhood growing up alongside his neighbor and family friend, JoAnn Welch Kelly. Throughout these last two weeks we learned it was true that Dad didn’t know a stranger. Between the revolving door of guests we got to see so many of his old friends (many we are sure we are missing): the Gotchers, the Hermes’, the Kellys, the Connollys, and Bobbi Woosley. He received calls and messages from more friends and family than we could keep track of from his nieces and nephews in Kentucky and Arkansas, friends from school in St. Regis & Arkansas, and even friends from Portugal.

John lived enough adventures for several lifetimes. He built businesses, raised unusual animals, traveled the country, served his nation, strengthened his community, loved one woman for more than half a century, raised six children, supported his grandchildren, welcomed countless others into his family, and left behind more stories than any single obituary could possibly hold.

He lived a good life, his words the day he learned the end was near… He was deeply loved.

As Papa would say, “I know it sucks right now, but it’s going to get better.” And from here, we take John’s story back to where it all began:

John Jewell Cheesman was born to Fred Washington Cheesman and Daisie Junia Cheesman in Philipsburg, Montana, on May 7, 1942.