Obituary - Richard Franklin Damstrom Nov. 24th, 1934-June 18th, 2023

Richard Franklin Damstrom passed away Sunday, June 18th, 2023, at the age of 88. He died peacefully with his loving wife, Lois, by his side.

The eldest son of Richard T. and Sarah Damstrom, Richard was born in Lyford, TX. He grew up with his brothers, Walden and Clifford, on the family farm just outside of Lyford. As a teenager, he worked on farms and in cotton gins in southeast Texas.

He came to northeast Montana while working for a land surveying company. At the age of 19 in 1954, he "hired on" with the Great Northern Railroad. He worked for the Great Northern/Burlington Northern Railroad, beginning as a brakeman in Havre, MT, continuing as a brakeman/conductor in Glasgow until his retirement in 1996. He was extremely proud to be a railroader and union member, serving a couple of terms as representative for the local union.

May 1st, 1973, Richard married Lois M. Bergstrom. Rich and Lois made their home in Glasgow where they resided until March of 2021.

Rich dearly loved all his children, his four children from his first marriage - Debi Friede (Tom), Leslie Damstrom (Jim Ragan), Robert Damstrom (Roxanne) and Kelly Brenden (Dave) - and Lois's five children - Rick Mortimer, Rob Mortimer (Sheila), Randy Mortimer, Ryan Mortimer (Jill) and Lori Downing (Ben).

Lois and Rich enjoyed almost 27 years of retired life. They spent most of their retirement as snowbirds traveling south to Texas and in later years to Arizona.

Rich enjoyed seeing and visiting his large family, which included 20 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson, born just a few weeks ago.

Richard was a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church, regularly attending worship and singing in church choirs.

Richard was a proud American of Swedish ancestry with the gift of gab. He loved getting to know people and their life stories. He brought love and joy to so many lives and will be greatly missed. A memorial service will be at St Paul Lutheran Church in Missoula, MT, at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 20th, 2023, with a reception to follow.