Graveside services for Howard W. Jorgenson, 94, of Sheridan will be 11 a.m. Wednesday, November 28 in the Elks Section of the Sheridan Municipal Cemetery with the Rev. David Duprey officiating.

Mr. Jorgenson died November 20, 2007, at his residence.

Arrangements are with Kane Funeral Home.

He was born on May 30, 1913, in Chicago Heights, Illinois to Charles W. and Anna Olive (McChesney) Jorgenson. The family moved to Sheridan in 1918 and he graduated from Sheridan High School in 1931.

Throughout his youth he worked on various ranches in the area with both cattle and sheep. He worked on Pass Creek for Frank Holly for a number of years, and then summers for Walt Peters and Charles Tompkins. After high school he became the assistant manager of the Fox Theater in Sheridan for 3 years and then took a sales position for General Foods in Butte, Montana, a job he held for 10 years.

>From Butte he went to the army for 3 years, two of which he was a Corporal stationed in England and France during WWII. He was a Radio Operator during this time working with the war correspondents to send news of the war back home. Although he was behind the front lines, his radio duties took him to many significant locations, including the beaches of Normandy.

After he was discharged he returned to Billings, Montana to work for General Foods where he had a brief marriage to Fransena Tousses.

In 1946, he returned to Sheridan to purchase Jorgenson Jewelry from his father in a partnership with his brother-in-law. Employed at the store was a young lady named Kathleen Reiser who became Mrs. Jorgenson in March of 1947. She died of cancer in 1984. He owned and operated the jewelry store until selling it to his son, Charlie, in the late 1970’s.

In the early 1950s he purchased land north of Sheridan and later on Soldier Creek, west of Sheridan, to pursue what he called his “ranching hobby”. He did not take it lightly as his hobby was very important to him and he would rather have been a rancher than anything else. It gave him a lot of personal satisfaction and he loved working outdoors.

Howard built his own cabin in the Big Horn Mountains, doing most of the work himself and then enjoyed the fishing and hunting the Big Horns had to offer.

He liked spending time with his children and grandchildren and was always happiest when he could put them to work on the ranch and tell them his stories at the same time.

He also bought a cottage on Puget Sound in Washington and loved boating, fishing, and crabbing. His favorite thing to eat was seafood and if he could catch it himself that was even better.

Music was also a favorite pastime for him, playing the trumpet in the Drum and Bugle Corp and also dance bands around the area.

On November 3, 1986 he married Martha Rogers in Butte, Montana. The last several years they divided their time between Bull Head City, Arizona, and Sheridan.

He was a member of the Elks and the American Legion. He was preceded in death by one sister, Bethel Blum of Sheridan.

Survivors include his wife of Sheridan, two sons, Charlie of Sheridan and Robert of Austin, Texas, three daughters, Judy Schiffer of Aldie, Virginia, Kathy Schumacher of Bozeman, Montana, and JoAnne Quittschreiber of Billings, Montana, twelve grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren.

Memorials may benefit Hospice of the Big Horns, 1401 W. Fifth, Sheridan, or the American Legion Baseball Program, c/o of Dan Bilyeu, PO Box 12, Sheridan.

The Sheridan Press - November 24, 2007