Thomas E. \u201cGene\u201d Rice, 81, of Helena, peacefully passed away on Thursday morning, November 10, 2011 at home, surrounded by his wife and children. Gene lost his seven-year battle with lung cancer. <\/p>\n
Gene was born at St. Peter\u2019s Hospital in Helena on February 12, 1930, the first of four children, to Thomas and Florence Rice. He was baptized at the original St. Paul\u2019s Methodist Church. He attended Kessler School, was selected by Helena High School faculty to be a delegate to Montana\u2019s first Boys State in 1947, and graduated in 1948. <\/p>\n
Gene enlisted in the Air Force at Great Falls AFB in September 1950. He served in the Korean Conflict \u2013 stationed at Haneda AFB, Tokyo, Japan and at Kwajalien (Marshall Islands) from 1951 – 1952. He received the Korean and UN Service Medals and was honorably discharged in September 1952. Later, Gene enjoyed attending and hosting annual 1503rd ATW Squadron reunions. <\/p>\n
Gene met Mary Jane Cerney at a New Year\u2019s Eve country dance at the Austin school in 1950. They were married at St. Paul\u2019s Methodist Church on November 11, 1952. Gene and Mary Jane had three children \u2013 Tom, Merry, and Kim. <\/p>\n
Gene lived his entire life in the 1930s-built family home on Spring Street. Enjoyment of woodworking and building led Gene to remodel and enlarge the home with the help of Mary Jane and others. Later, Gene enjoyed teaching his son, son-in-laws, and grandsons how to build and remodel their homes. <\/p>\n
Gene did his auto mechanic apprenticeship at Nash Auto Dealership in 1949. Gene worked for the State Highway Department testing lab from 1954 \u2013 1977. During much of this time, he also served as treasurer of State Capitol Employees Credit Union (Rocky Mountain Credit Union). He went to work at the Credit Union full-time in 1977 and served as President from 1978 until he retired in June 2005. <\/p>\n
Family was an important part of Gene\u2019s life. Aside from the many \u201cfamily dinners\u201d, Gene also took his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to Washington D.C. in 2004 and 2006. Gene\u2019s love of travel also led to European adventures in 2007 with Merry, Gary, Kim, and Bill, and in 2008 with Cory and Nolan. <\/p>\n
Gene\u2019s memberships included the Helena Masonic Lodge #3 for 60 years and Helena Rotary Club for 30 years. Gene\u2019s Helena community interests included Boy Scouts, the Festival of Trees, serving on the Kessler and Helena High School Boards for 25 years, and working on the Last Chance Stampede Queen contest for five years. Gene was known for his generous donations to Intermountain Children\u2019s Home in the form of a Festival tree at Christmas-time and a pig or beef at the local 4-H livestock sale each summer. <\/p>\n
Gene will be laid to rest in his famous \u201cblue pinstripe, double-breasted suit\u201d that he purchased in 1947 for a Rainbow dance and wore at his wedding and later at his 50th wedding anniversary celebration. <\/p>\n
Gene was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Ruby Ann Heisey; and in-laws, Cliff and Bertha Cerney. <\/p>\n
Gene is survived by his wife of 59 years, Mary Jane; son, Tom (Sharon) of Dillon; daughters, Merry (Gary) Lunde and Kim (Bill) Susag both of Helena; grandsons, Nolan Rice of Twin Falls, ID, and Mike Rice and Cory Lunde both of Helena; granddaughters, Megan (Devin) Alfson and Kelsey (Miles) Bell both of Helena; and great-grandchildren, Jacob and Madison Rice, Mackenzie Lynch, and Dominic Bell all of Helena. He is also survived by his brother, Francis (Ardis) Rice of Helena; sister, Esther (Kyle) Dearing of Vancouver, Washington; brother-in-law, Noel Heisey of Boise, Idaho; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was blessed with many close friends. <\/p>\n
Remember everyone \u2013 \u201cJack Daniels fixes all problems\u201d \u2013 have one for Gene!! <\/p>\n
Gene\u2019s entire family would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Tom Weiner and all the staff of the St. Peter\u2019s Hospital Cancer Center; and to the caring ladies from Hospice of St. Peter\u2019s. <\/p>\n
The family will receive friends from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday, November 14th at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. A funeral service celebrating Gene\u2019s life will be at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 15th at St. Paul\u2019s United Methodist Church. Interment with military honors will follow at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery at Ft. Harrison. A reception will then be held at Jorgenson\u2019s Holiday Inn Restaurant immediately following the burial. Memorials may be sent to Intermountain Children\u2019s Home, St. Peter\u2019s Cancer Center, Hospice of St. Peter\u2019s, or a charity of your choice. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/504960_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/982","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=982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}