H. Arthur Tomsheck

On Sunday March 22, 1925 a new baby boy was born to Etta (Wilcox) and Tony Tomsheck in the Shelby Hospital.  The couple named the new son Harold Arthur.  From that day forth Etta’s wishes prevailed, and H Arthur joined what was to become a family of 3 sisters and 2 brothers on the homestead 18 miles east of Sunburst.  Arthur attended the rural Toole School progressing through and graduating from Sunburst High School.  Farming was his destination until WWII forced his enlistment in the US Navy.  Following naval trade school, Arthur served in the Philippines’ until the war’s end.  Upon separation, Machinist Second Class Tomsheck returned to the family farm.  On June 1, 1948 he married Lois Medaine Copenhaver in Conrad.  While farming in Sunburst, Arthur and Lois had four sons.  In 1959 the growing family moved to the Boyd Stewart farm to successfully raise both small grains and a crop of kids.

Saint Valentine’s Day 1998, the ever romantic, Arthur married the second love of his life, Agnes (Flesch) of Browning.  Having raised four boys, Agnes’s three daughters further enriched his life.  Having sold the farm to son Dan, Arthur and Agnes retired to enjoy travelling and involving themselves in church activities (St. Paul’s Lutheran and St. Margaret’s Catholic).  The couple spent many an enjoyable evening cutting the rug dancing at the Cut Bank Senior Center.  Arthur proudly collected farmer style baseball caps, which no doubt he wore while tooling around the country in his self-built yellow school bus camper.

Arthur had a passion for hunting most of the big game species in Montana.  Active in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, he attended the first 26 annual conventions.  Most likely he is the only Cut Bank, if not the only Montanan,  to successfully elk hunt in Mexico.  He enjoyed fishing, snowmobiling, woodworking and field glassing herds of elk near the Shady Shack cabin.  Arthur was an innovative and successful farmer.  If asked, he would say he was a modest farmer.  Doubtless some city slicker lost his bet when he judged the width of the field stripes to be something other than ± 3 inches over its mile length.  His sons saw him as a mentor, a father, guide and boss.

Arthur is survived by his wife, Agnes, 3 sons, Jay of Houston, TX, Cal of Prineville, OR and Ned of Tuscon, AZ, daughters Pricillia Flesch-Birtic of Belgrade, Cecelia Jacka of Albuquerque, NM, Ginger Flesch of Browning and ten grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.  He is survived by brothers Bob (Shelby) and Ray (spouse Georgia) (Ethridge) and sister Jeanette Brown (Shelby).  He was preceded in death by his first wife, Lois, son Dan Tomsheck and sisters Ruth Kimmet (Sunburst) and Bernice Christopherson (Wisconsin).  Additionally numerous loving nieces, nephews, cousins and other assorted outlaws and in-laws will miss Uncle Arthur.  Of note, Arthur is survived by his beloved cats OJ and Gray Fuzz, but preceded in death by Greco, who at 27-1/2 years was denied entry into the Guinness Records book for being an undocumented feline.

H Arthur, due to natural causes, passed into the gates of heaven on December 6, 2016 at 91 years of life.  Rosary and viewing will be held at the Cut Bank Whitted Funeral Chapel from 4:00 to 6:00PM, Monday December 12, 2016.  Funeral Services will be held at St. Margaret’s Catholic Church in Cut Bank Tuesday December 13, 2016 at 10:00AM, followed by a reception prior to internment in the Shelby Cemetery.  The family requests, in lieu of flowers, a donation to the charity of personal choice in Arthur’s name.