Orin Brett Craig Bjerke, 48, of Clancy passed away Thursday, November 3, 2011. He died in his home surrounded by his family after a short three month battle with cancer. <\/p>\n
Brett was born on November 19, 1962 in Helena to Orin and Helen Bjerke. He attended Broadwater Elementary school, C.R. Anderson and graduated from Capital High School in 1981. While attending high school, he met the love of his life, Laura Schell. Their first date was at the Sky Hi Drive-In movie theater. On August 14, 1982 at St. Cyril & Methodius Church they married and started their wonderful life filled with love, laughter and daughters. <\/p>\n
From 1982 until 1985 Brett worked for American Building Company. In 1985, his brother, Ardine, opened Diamond Construction, Inc. where he supervised and built numerous building projects throughout Montana. He looked forward to summers when his daughters would work alongside him. <\/p>\n
Brett\u2019s passion for the Lord could be seen in everything he did. He was an active member of First Lutheran Church. He enjoyed working with members of the developmental disabled community. <\/p>\n
Brett loved spending time with his family and helping others. He spent countless hours hunting, fishing, rafting, camping and doing many other outdoor activities with his friends and family. He touched many hearts and was loved by everyone who knew him. <\/p>\n
He lived by the saying \u201cI\u2019m alive, I\u2019m alert, and I feel great!\u201d <\/p>\n
Brett was preceded in death by his sister Debrah Kaye Bjerke of South Dakota.
He is survived by his wife Laura; his daughters Amber and Mike Buchanan, Holly Bjerke, and Debbie Bjerke of Clancy, and Rebecca Bjerke and Fianc\u00e9 David Bent of Bozeman. His grandchildren Noah and Skylar Buchanan. His parents Orin & Helen Bjerke of Helena. His siblings Maureen & Chris Byrd of Hungry Horse, Ardine & Susan Bjerke of Helena, Errol & Barbara Bjerke of Helena, Cynthia Bjerke of California, Allison & Greg Rash of California, and Tawnee & Joey Walker of Seattle. His in-laws: Ray Schell of East Helena, Gayle & Jim Howard of Helena, Theresa & Ken Lewing, Irene & Mark Bushnell, Denise & Dean Sowers, David & Carrie Schell, Mary & Rick Baker all of Helena, and Donna & Donald Driver of Butte. Brett is also survived by several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and great-nieces & great-nephews. <\/p>\n
A memorial service celebrating Brett\u2019s life will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov.7 at First Lutheran Church, 2231 E. Broadway St. in Helena. For those wishing to send memorials in Brett\u2019s name, an account at Valley Bank has been setup or flowers can be sent to the church.<\/p>\n","photo":false,"youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/975","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=975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}