Joseph E Christiaens

Joseph E. Christiaens, 72, of Dupuyer passed away Sunday, October 12, 2014 in Great Falls. Visitation will be held Thursday, 10/16, 2014 from 2 pm through Friday 10/17 at 3 pm at Inn Dupuyer Bed & Breakfast. Visitation, rosary and prayer vigil will be held on Friday, October 17, 2014 at 6:30 pm at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Conrad. Visitation will also be held on Saturday, October 18, 2014, beginning at 10 am until 10:45 am at St. Michael’s. Funeral Mass will follow beginning at 11 am at St. Michael’s, followed by a reception in the church basement. Procession to burial at Dupuyer Cemetery will be followed by coffee and cookies at Dupuyer Community Hall. Arrangements have been entrusted to O’Connor Funeral Home. Joe Christiaens was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Conrad on Sept. 9, 1942, the eighth child of Maurice and Jeanette (Monroe) Christiaens’s family of ten. Joe grew up on the family farm at the top of the Belgian Hill, seven miles east of Valier, in the area referred to as the “Belgian Colony Settlement”. After graduation from high school, Joe worked on the family farm and did seasonal work for Bob Asheim at Sunburst, for Robert Stoltz setting up a pig operation on the Two Medicine, and as a sexton at the Valier Cemetery. Joe and Rita Morris were married on Oct. 21, 1961. They moved to Teton Canyon northwest of Choteau in the spring of 1962 to work at the Jim Crawford Ranch, and later moved to Conrad to work at the North Montana Machinery for Pat McElliot. Joe went to work for Eddie and Pat Wyse at Wyse Funeral Home in 1963 and worked there after it was sold until the early 1980s. Also in 1963, Joe began working with Pondera County Ambulance, Pondera County Emergency Medical Services, and Pondera County Coroner. Joe has had a lifetime love of horses and worked for Pat Wyse at the Wyse Arena in Conrad. He especially had a hankering for paint/pinto saddle horses (and white mules), and had the privilege of owning several for his own riding pleasure, moving cows for area ranchers, mountain pack trips and hunting excursions back into the Badger/Two Medicine area where he had hunted since 1959, and the Bob Marshall Wilderness area. More recently he gave up his saddle horses and put his energy into training and driving draft horse teams. He acquired several horse drawn carriages over the years, which he used in funeral processions, area parades, and hometown celebrations, the most novel being a Stage Coach. During the early missile phase in this area Joe was the Civil Defense for Pondera County for a short time. He received his initial First Aid training and CPR in Conrad, attended Emergency Medical Technician training in Spokane, Denver, and Seattle, and received his National Emergency Medical Technician Certification, becoming the 34th person in the nation to do so. Joe facilitated many First Aid, CPR and EMT classes over the years and through participation in continuing education and mandatory testing he maintained his EMT certification until March of 2003. Joe received Coroners Certification from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy, served four terms as President of the Montana Coroners Association, and organized and annually attended seminars and continuing education workshops throughout the state of Montana. He often testified at the Legislature on matters that would affect the duties of the Coroner’s Office and citizens of the State of Montana. National Coroner education and training took Joe to Saint Louis, MO; Detroit, MI; and Banff, Canada. In 1993 Joe and Rita moved back to Dupuyer and refurbished the 100 year old hand hewn log homestead house that was home to several early day settlers in the Dupuyer area, and on April 1, 1994, opened Inn Dupuyer Bed & Breakfast. Joe was elected Pondera County Commissioner in 2002, and thus retired from Pondera County EMS, and from being Pondera County Coroner, in January of 2003 after serving in each of these endeavors for 40 years. Joe was currently serving his second term as Pondera County Commissioner and was grateful to the voters of Pondera County for once again giving him the opportunity to serve them in this capacity. Joe was a devout catholic and an active member of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Conrad. He was active in the Cursillo Movement and was a member of the Knights of Columbus. Ravished by a newly diagnosed and fast growing cancer in the lungs, liver, and spine on Oct. 7, Joe died on Oct. 12, 2014, at Benefis Hospital in Great Falls, surrounded by family and friends with an outpouring of love. Joe is survived by his spouse, Rita; brothers Del (Pat) and Roger (Bonnie) of Valier; sisters Marjorie (Norman) Hause of Conrad and Agatha (Ray) Simurdak of Sheridan, WY. He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters: Dorothy Rideout and Maureen Mamuzich; three brothers: Don, Ron, and Larry Christiaens; a sister-in-law, Patty Jo Morris Christiaens; and a brother-in-law, Don Rideout. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Memorials are suggested to the Dupuyer Community Club or a charity of your choice.