Richard “Dick” Lewis Grieb, 95, of Great Falls, passed away Friday, April 19, 2019 at Peace Hospice.
A funeral liturgy will be held on Friday, April 26, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Church with burial to follow at Highland Cemetery. Schnider Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
Dick was born on September 29, 1923 in Flint, Michigan to Jeanett and George Grieb. They lived in Mt. Morris, Michigan where his father worked at Buick Motor Co. His sister Eunice was born August 1927. Shortly after his sister was born they moved to Montana when he was 3 years old. They settled briefly in Wolf Creek before deciding to return to Mt. Morris before moving to Chicago. They lived with his aunt and uncle in Chicago where his brother, Kenny was born in 1931.
While in 2nd grade Dick and his family moved to Montana, settling in Helena. He became a paperboy for the Record Herald, selling his papers on Main Street, Helena. During eighth grade he got his own afternoon paper route in his neighborhood. He would keep this route all through high school. He started Helena High School in 1938 and in 1939 tried out for track, made the team and lettered all three years.
During the summer he worked his paper route, the Eddy Bakery Cake shop during the night shift, and helped out at Jack Cooper’s Ice Cream. Dick was offered a job at Midge Ellis’s meat market on Main Street during his senior year and quit all of his other jobs, except the paper route. He would clerk, do the occasional odd job, and deliver groceries to customers in Marysville, 30 miles from Helena driving a new Chevrolet Sedan. He graduated June 1942. Upon graduation, he was hired by Eddy Bakery to drive their bread truck delivering bread and bakery goods, saving his money.
Dick and his good friend Wally Waddell decided to travel before joining the service. They flipped a coin for East or West. They went West, Wally won the coin toss. They took off, hitch-hiking to California. They made it to Sacramento, California riding with a driver for Good Rich Tire Company. They then hitched a ride to Richmond where both were offered a job as welders. Dick decided to go to Oakland where he had family. He was later joined by Wally.
They decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps November of 1942, so they returned to Montana and were sworn in on December 9, 1942 in Butte. Dick, Wally and 10 other recruits boarded a train to San Diego to begin boot camp. He was sent to Ordinance School in Norman, Oklahoma, where, after completion, he went to the Mojave Desert and was assigned to the Corsair Squadron (VMF225).
In October 1943, he was shipped to Hawaii on an aircraft carrier. He spent the remainder of WW II in the South Pacific attached to a Marine ordinance outfit putting ammunition into the Corsairs. March 1944, he was sent to Aespredo until June 1944 where he boarded an aircraft carrier heading to the Marshall Islands and continuing north to Guam. Eventually Dick returned stateside and was assigned to Cherry Point, North Carolina before being sent to the headquarters of the U.S. Marines in Quatico, Virginia. He was honorably discharged October of 1945.
Dick went to college at the University of Montana January of 1946 where he earned a degree in Business Administration graduating in 1949. It was the summer right after graduation that he met a beautiful young lady by the name of March Denny. They were married on June 26, 1950 in Kalispell, Montana.
They remained in Townsend for a time before moving to Great Falls where he went to work at the GMAC dealership. Their first daughter, March was born March 23, 1951. March 1, 1952 Dick took a job selling Chevrolets at Seese Chevrolet. He went to work for Bison Motor Company as a used car manager January 1954.
Mary was born March 23, 1955 while he was still working at Bison. Shortly after Mary was born, Dick decided to go into partnership with Jack Kessner to build duplexes to start saving money so he could own his own car dealership. The first duplex was built in Riverview in 1959 followed by another duplex shortly thereafter. On December 16, 1967 Dick and March were blessed with twin girls, April Ann and Cember Dee. His family was now complete.
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, visit the Schnider Funeral Home website.
