Dennis Schoepp

Dennis H. Schoepp, 61, a longtime Flathead Valley funeral director, died Thursday, June 11, 2009, at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. He was born Dec. 21, 1947, at Bismark, N.D., and came to Lewistown as a child where he attended school, graduating from Fergus County High School in 1966.

He served in the U.S. Army, serving for an extended period in Germany.

Dennis married Kenria Roll of Great Falls on Aug. 23, 1975.

He attended Eastern Montana College in Billings (MSU-Eastern) and Montana State University in Bozeman, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in archaeology and anthropology. He later attended the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science, graduating in 1979.

He and his wife came to Columbia Falls in 1980 where they had owned and operated Columbia Mortuary for 29 years and later Austin Funeral Home in Whitefish. He had been an active member of the Montana Funeral Directors Association, serving twice as president, and the National Funeral Directors Association, serving on that organization's national policy board. He also had been a member of the Montana Archaeological Society, the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce, as well as serving on the board of the Whitefish Credit Union. Dennis maintained his lifelong love of archaeology, keeping an exhaustive collection of agates.

Survivors include his wife, Kenria, of Columbia Falls; a brother, Alan Paul McAtee, and wife, Pamela, of Missoula; sisters, Janet Trujillo of New Mexico, and Tammy McAtee of Great Falls; his mother-in-law, Gloria Austin, of Whitefish; and a niece and nephews, Jennifer, Brian, Matthew, Randall and Brandy.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Florence McAtee, in 2006.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, June 16, at the Columbia Mortuary Chapel, with interment services and military honors following at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Montana Funeral Directors Association Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 4267, Helena, MT 59604-4267.