Paul Albert Bessler was born in Powell, Wyoming on April 22, 1938 to Clara Gregoire Bessler and Leo Peter Bessler. He was the fifth in line of their 8 children.<\/p>\n
He had many happy childhood memories with his siblings and cousins on the family farm in Powell.\u00a0 He was very close to sisters, Dorothy, Rita and Helen, brothers Nick, Denis, Frank and Bob. The boys were known as the Bessler Hooligans.<\/p>\n
He met the love of his life, Barbara Ann Walker, in May 1958 when she was roller skating with her sister Ginger. He was smitten at first glance and told his companions that she was his. He told her that night, he was going to marry her someday. It didn\u2019t take much to convince her and on May 29, 1959 they were married at St Anthony\u2019s Catholic Church in Cody, Wyoming. The couple started their married life in Cody.<\/p>\n
Early in their marriage Paul worked with the Forrest Service.<\/p>\n
In 1962 Paul started working at Kaiser Permanente ( Ash Grove) in Montana City. He worked there until his retirement.
\nThey were blessed with 3 children, Randal in 1960, Lora in 1962 and Michelle in 1966.<\/p>\n
After retirement, Paul and Barb enjoyed many years traveling around the US listening to music and making new friends wherever they went.\u00a0 They had a great adventure traveling to Denmark to see friends.<\/p>\n
Paul was very creative, whether building furniture, heirloom bassinets and cribs for his grandchildren, their home and even numerous prank props. He loved working with wood and made beautiful wooden bowls, vases, and animal carvings.<\/p>\n
Paul is survived by his wife, Barbara, son Randy and his wife Susie, children Taryn (Rustin), Duncan and Alec.\u00a0 Daughter\u00a0 Lora (Bob), daughter Amanda (Brian), Daughter Michelle, children Chelsea (Randy), son Tyson, and daughter Karlee (Chase). Great grandchildren; Deak, Timmy, Austin, Audrina, Zachary, Bentley, Tatum, Haven, Vivi, Teagan, Ivy and Marcus.<\/p>\n
He was preceded in death by his parents, Leo and Clara, sister Dorothy, and brothers Nick and Denis.<\/p>\n
He was well loved and will be missed by many. He never met a stranger – he treated new people like old friends.<\/p>\n
A visitation will be held on Thursday, April 16, 2026 from 4-6pm at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home, 3750 N Montana Ave., Helena, MT 59602. The funeral mass will be celebrated on Friday, April 17, 2026 at 12pm at SS Cyril and Methodious Catholic Church, 120 W Riggs St., East Helena, MT 59635. A reception will follow in church at the conclusion of mass.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bessler-Paul.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","service_status":"public","event_title1":"Visitation","event_date1":"2026-04-16","start_time1":"4:00pm","end_time1":"6:00pm","location1":"Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home","address1":"3750 N Montana ave.","city1":"Helena","state1":"MT","zipcode1":"59602","event_title2":"Mass of Christian Burial","event_date2":"2026-04-17","start_time2":"12:00pm","end_time2":"","location2":"SS Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church","address2":"120 W Riggs St","city2":"East Helena","state2":"MT","zipcode2":"59635","event_title3":"Reception","event_date3":"2026-04-17","start_time3":"Following the Funeral Mass","end_time3":"","location3":"SS Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church","address3":"120 W Riggs St","city3":"East Helena","state3":"MT","zipcode3":"59635","event_title4":"Graveside Service","event_date4":"2026-04-20","start_time4":"5:30pm","end_time4":"","location4":"St. Ann Cemetery","address4":"","city4":"East Helena","state4":"MT","zipcode4":"59635","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/32969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}