FRANK BUCKLIN, Obituary

OUTLOOK Frank "Bud" Bucklin Jr., 90, died Tuesday, July 30, 2002, at a Globe, Ariz., hospital.

A celebration-of-life service will be 11 a.m. Saturday at the Outlook School with Pastor Dave Curtright conducting the service. A luncheon will follow. Cremation

has taken place and interment of remains will be held at the ranch in a private service prior to the service at the school.

Frank was born Feb. 23, 1912, on the Bucklin Ranch five miles northeast of Redstone to Frank Sr. and Hattie Knight Bucklin. His mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1917 and the family moved to Arizona for her health. She died in 1920 and his father moved the family back to Redstone. His father ranched and raised his children and saw that all four graduated from high school and went to college. Frank graduated from Redstone High School in 1930 and earned his two-year teaching certificate from Northern Montana College.

Frank was teaching at Thornwood School near Reserve when he came down with polio in 1940. He was hospitalized in Great Falls for four months.

He met Dyllis McGill while recuperating in Havre and they were married in Great Falls on Jan. 12, 1942. They moved to Billings where Frank worked for Safeway. He also worked in Lewistown and Stevensville before moving to Portland, Ore. In 1948, they moved back to the ranch where Frank remained until his death.

Frank and his wife traveled throughout the lower 48 states and Alaska. When he was 69, he traveled down the Yukon River in western Alaska behind a team of huskies.

Dyllis began showing signs of Alzheimer's disease in 1986 and Frank took care of her until she entered a Sheridan nursing home in December 1993. She died on Feb. 28, 2000.

Frank was an avid reader and local historian. He had a passion for sports. He was proud of his grandchildren and tried to go to all of their games. While in Arizona, he became a Diamondbacks fan and went to the stadium as much to enjoy the antics of the seventh-inning stretch as to enjoy the game. He also enjoyed playing cards and taught many of his grandchildren how to play cribbage and seven-card pinochle.

Frank was preceded in death by his wife, Dyllis; an infant daughter; his parents; brothers, Kendrick, who died in infancy, and Sherwood Glenn, who died at 5; sister, Myra Bucklin and Mildred Bucklin Hill.

Survivors include his his children, Paul Eugene (Helen) Bucklin of Chinook, Mary (Jim) Reidlinger of Outlook, Lynette (Randy) Hunt of Globe, Ariz., and John (Barb) Bucklin and Steve (Teresa) Bucklin, all of the Bucklin Ranch; sister, Montana "Monty" Taylor Baker; 13 grandchildren; two foreign exchange students who call him grandpa; three great-grandsons; his wife's sisters and brothers; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.