Richard  P. Winters

Richard P. Winters, 71, of Missoula, passed away on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, at the family home of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He was born June 28, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, to Anna Tancos and Eugene Winters.

He attended St. Francis De Sales Elementary School and Chicago Vocational H.S. (CVS) where he was a member of the Cavalier Football team and team-mate of Hall of Fame linebacker and Chicago Bear Dick Butkus. He received an athletic scholarship to Northern Montana State College where he lettered in baseball and football.

He graduated on June 3, 1968, with a degree in secondary education, and married the love of his life, Janet, Sunday on June 8, 1968. He taught junior high and high school at Superior where he was the Bobcats' head football coach from 1969 to 1970.

From 1970 to 1973 he taught middle school and coached high school football, basketball and ABE (Adult Basic Education) to Gros-Ventre and Assiniboine tribal members on the Fort Belnap Reservation in Harlem. After retiring from teaching in 1973, he and his family moved to Missoula where they owned the Sparkle Laundry until 1978. He manged automotive Service Centers for K-Mart Corp. in Missoula, Billings and Bozeman. After working a variety of jobs, he began his employment in 1991 as a bus operator at Mountain Line, until health issues forced his retirement as a service supervisor in 2015.

He was a dedicated family man who was an avid reader with varied interests and enjoyed history, current events and genealogy.

He is survived by the one love of his life and wife of 48 years, Jan (Sunday). Jan and Rich were blessed with four children all of Missoula and vicinity, Autumn and husband Josh (Carvey), April, Richie and wife Angie (Erickson), Jeremy and wife Kelley (Ela) and a brother Gene Winters and wife Margaret of Sparks, Nevada. Rich and Jan have 10 grandchildren aged 3 years to 22, Rowan, Ava, Levi, Frankie, Emily, Ryan, Anna, Madisen, McKaylen and Jayden. Rich was preceded in death by father Eugene, mother Anna Tancos and older brother Fred.

Services will be held at Garden City Funeral Home on Friday, June 3, at 3 p.m. with a reception immediately following in the funeral homes community room.