Richard H. "Dick" Schipporeit

After a courageous battle with cancer, Richard H. "Dick" Schipporeit died Thursday, November 20, 2014 surrounded by family at St. Patrick's Hospital. Dick was an inspiration to everyone who knew him.

The son of Margaret H. Schipporeit (Pickens) and Richard H. Schipporeit, Dick was born on September 8, 1941 in Missoula. Dick's early education was at St. Anthony's and Loyola in Missoula. He graduated from Florence Carlton High School in 1959 and attended the University of Montana receiving a Bachelor of Science in Health & Physical Education in 1967 with a minor in Business Education. He received a Masters in Education from the University of Montana in 1974.

He married his high school sweetheart, Alice Fay Zeiler, in 1966 at Christ the King Parish. They have two children, Richard Shane Schipporeit of Florence and Dawne Marie Schipporeit of Missoula.

Dick began his teaching career at Florence in 1967 and joined the staff of Sentinel High School in 1969. He taught business and driver's education at Sentinel for 44 years, setting the record for longest tenure. Over the last several years he also taught driver's education at Loyola Sacred Heart high school. In 1975 he developed the first high school traffic education motorcycle course in Montana which became the first traffic education motorcycle course in the entire Northwest. This course operated during the summers of 1975 through 1989. He was also department chair of the Business Department at Sentinel for 30 years. During his career at Sentinel, Dick was named Montana Traffic Educator of the Year in 2008 and 2010, the only person to be honored with this award twice. He loved teaching and in many cases taught the parents and grandparents of his students. During his tenure at Sentinel, Dick chaperoned 47 consecutive Junior Proms and attended 47 graduations.

His relationship with Beach Transportation began while he was still in college in 1964 when he started driving buses for Bob Beach. This relationship continued for 50 years with Dick assisting at the garage in the mornings prior to school, on weekends, and during the summer. He thoroughly enjoyed driving buses, particularly to sporting events. An ardent Griz fan, you could always count on seeing him drive a bus transporting visiting teams from the airport to Washington Grizzly Stadium. In most cases the return trip was not a happy one for the visiting team.

Dick began officiating high school basketball in 1972 and over a span of 20 years became well known in the Montana high school sports world. He officiated basketball at all levels, including state basketball championship tournaments for Class AA, A, B and C. In 2001, Dick was inducted into the Montana Officials Hall of Fame.

He developed a keen interest in cars dating back to his days working part time for Bretz Conoco (later Bretz RV) during college. His relationship with Bretz RV continued for 50 years during which time he drove RVs to and from RV shows and made deliveries or picked up RV's all over the country. He has owned several classic cars, including a 1965 Mustang, a 1966 Mustang, a 1968 Cougar, and a 1970 Chevy Nova. For the past several years he served as a judge for Ford products entered in the annual Garden City River Rod Run at Caras Park in Missoula.

Dick also owned and operated Mow and Snow for several years, during which time he mowed Linda Vista Parks and cleared snow from mail boxes in Linda Vista, and mowed lawn at Bretz RV.

He was a devoted family man who loved life, family gatherings and fishing. He was also a practical jokester and never tired of talking of his experiences driving buses and teaching, and in the case of driver's education, harrowing experiences. The family will cherish forever the love and joy Dick brought to their lives and to the lives of thousands of others he touched along the way.

Dick was preceded in death by his father Richard Schipporeit and his stepfather Jesse B. Pickens. Survivors include: his wife of 48 years, Fay; two children, Shane (Jackie) Schipporeit and Dawne Schipporeit; his mother, Margaret H. Pickens; two grandchildren, Cody (Amanda) and Philip (Dezeray); and two great grandchildren, Brystal and Carter. He is also survived by brothers, Gary (Mary) Pickens, Jim (Margie) Pickens; sister, Patricia (Howard) Hirsch and many nieces and nephews.

A vigil service will be conducted at Garden City Funeral Home on Monday, December 1st at 7:00PM. A reception will follow the vigil service at the Garden City Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for 10:30 AM Tuesday, December 2nd at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Missoula with Father Michael Drury officiating. A reception will follow at the Church.

A private interment with the family will follow the reception.

Dick's family would like to thank the wonderful people at St. Patrick's Hospital for their excellent care.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Montana Special Olympics (somt.org) or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (stjude.org).

Read Richard Schipporeit's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.