Royce R. McDunn of Great Falls, born April 25, 1948, being a stickler for punctuality and organization, left this world on his 75th birthday, April 25, 2023. Royce passed away in the comfort of his own home after enduring a six-year battle with myeloproliferative disease, ending in acute myeloid leukemia.
Royce spent a great deal of his formative years being raised by his grandparents, Hadrian and Martha Lesmeister, farming the Fairfield Bench. This time on the farm spurred his love for farming which he would return to in the mid-80s farming in the Conrad/Brady area.
During Royce's school years, when not in school or sports, Royce went to work for his father at the service station, Roy's Standard, spurring his love for anything cars. Royce's time off of work would find him in the backyard garage and neighbors’ garages building and tuning his newest car for the pickup drags at Bootlegger Trail or local car show. This led to stock racing at Electric City Speedway and when not racing, working in the pit crew for other drivers, to dabbling in the drag races in Lewistown or whatever track was available back in the day. Royce would later return to the drag racing scene in the mid-90s as a regular at Lewistown Raceway, Lost Creek Raceway, and the newly built Yellowstone Drag Strip in Billings, MT.
Royce was a retired firefighter, captain, and acting battalion chief for the Great Falls Fire Department, with 32 years serving the City of Great Falls. Royce was a stickler for precision, accuracy, and knowing local and federal fire codes. Royce had his AS in Fire Science and taught fire science at CGF/ UGF during his career with the GFFD.
With his entrepreneurial spirit Royce opened McDunn's Piccadilly Floral, in Holiday Village Mall with his wife Barbara (Jackson) McDunn and sat on the Board of directors of Holiday Village Mall until their divorce. Cars brought these two together as they both held an unmatched love for cars, this continued in many car adventures throughout their marriage.
He is survived by his three sisters, Roxanne (Don) Hartman of Peoria, AZ, Ruan (John) Friedrick of Cle Elum, WA, and Rashel (Dale) Richard of Elk, WA; only daughter, Wendy McDunn; two grandsons, Reece (Talesha) Frank and Levi Frank; two great-grandchildren all of Great Falls; and a loving companion, Jan Ellings of Cut Bank.
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, click here to visit the Schnider Funeral Home website.
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