CLARENCE JERALD LIPPERT

Clarence J. Lippert, 100, died on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 in Troy.  He was born on February 6, 1919, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Oscar and Anna Wolf. Clarence was 6 years old when his father died. His mother then moved with her three children to Miles City, Montana to live with her parents. Anna married Fred Lippert one and a half years later and moved out onto the Lippert Ranch on the Tongue River. There were only 7 students in the little country grade school Clarence attended. He was the only one in the 8th grade when he graduated. His step father would not let him continue his education beyond the 8th grade saying it was unnecessary. Even in his 100th year he still regretted not going on in school as he loved to learn. He lived and worked on the family farm until he was drafted into the Army. At that time his surname was legally changed from Wolf to Lippert.

He entered the US Army on February 19, 1941. WWII was declared on Dec. 7, 1942. He spent 44 months fighting in the jungles of the Pacific Ocean Theater. After he was discharged, he returned to Montana to find work. He worked building fence lines for the county and then worked building the highway around the east side of Flathead Lake.

It was during this time that he met his wife, Edith. She was the teacher in a one-room school house near Polson, Montana. It was in April of 1947. His family loved watching him tell the story of how they met at a Sunday morning meeting. They looked across the room at each other and "BANG! Love hit us both hard." They married on October 14, 1947. As newlyweds they moved to Minneapolis where he went to the Air and Mechanic School. So many men were returning at the end of the war that had experience that it was hard to get a job as a mechanic. He managed a dairy farm in Miles City, Montana for a couple of years. In 1951 he moved his family to Libby. He had heard the lumber mill there was hiring. When he applied at the office for work, he was told there were no job openings. He sat down. A while later they said, "You are still here?!". He said, "I'm not leaving til I have a job." He told them he was desperate because he had two children and another one the way. He was hired and worked there for 30 years. He took an early retirement in 1982 to help take care of Edith who had cancer. She passed away June 19, 1982. He and Edith had five children, Jim, George, Dee, Ralph and

Karen.

Four years after Edith died, he married Mildred Munyan. They had 29 years together before Mildred passed on.  Clarence lived on his own until he was 98 years old. He then moved in with his daughter and son-in-law, Dee and Larry Ross, in Potlatch, Idaho. Larry and he became fishing buddies, continuing his lifelong love of fishing.

What he came to love and value the most though, starting as a young man, were the words of God. He passed away at his son Ralph's home in Troy, Montana, while visiting there for Thanksgiving.

His son George preceded him in death in September of 2018.

He is survived by his children, Jim, Dee (Larry), Ralph (Sue) and Karen; 10 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren and 1 great‑great-granddaughter.   

Funeral services will be at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, December 7th, 2019 at the Schnackenberg Funeral Home in Libby.  Online condolences and memories may be shared at www.schnackenbergfh.com.

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