Local legend heads home
Mission Valley bids fond farewell to Bud Cheff, Sr.
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RONAN – As the Ronan High School’s gym filled to near capacity last Saturday, it became more and more apparent just how many lives local legend and lifelong Mission Valley resident Bud Vern Edmond Cheff Sr. touched in his 96 years. Cheff’s funeral was held at the gym to accommodate the attendance of more than 400 community members who came to pay their respects.
According to son, Bud Cheff Jr., it was his father’s friendly nature that made him such a likeable guy.
“He was what he was,” Bud Jr. said. “Down to earth and honest, and liked people.”
During the service, many family members mentioned Cheff’s spirituality, and how he instilled values in his family.
“He taught kin to be honest,” Bud Jr. said. “ Bud didn’t believe you had to be in a church building to go to church, you could go to church in the mountains. He always felt the closest to God in the mountains.”
An avid outdoorsman, it was fitting that a horse-drawn hearse, followed by his personal horse, carried Bud Cheff Sr. to his final resting place in the Ronan Cemetary.
A life long resident, Cheff leaves behind a large family including 3 brothers, 1 daughter and 5 sons and their families, 33 grandchildren, 82 great grandchildren, and 18 great-great grandchildren.
Born April 2, southeast of Ronan on the Tehnum Finley place, Cheff was raised by Canadian parents of French and Indian descent, along with his brothers and sisters. All Cheff’s neighbors were Native American, who regularly included him on hunting and gathering trips into the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Mission Range. The early experiences instilled in Cheff Sr. a passion for packing horses, leading him to become an outfitter in the Mission Valley.
Cheff met Adelle, his wife of 67 years, in the summer before fifth grade. The two married when Bud was 18 years old.
According to Laurel Cheff, Bud's family has early roots in Montana, starting with a trapper for David Thompson and the Northwest Fur Co. in 1810, to the settling of Frenchtown and Demersville. His parents came from Ontario, Canada in the late 1890s to join other family members already settled here.
In the early years, Cheff worked on a farm for a dollar a day, and then got a job breaking horses and feeding and herding cattle at the Kelly Ranch west of Kalispell. He was also involved building Kerr, Hungry Horse, and the Noxon Dams.
Cheff led people on pack trips in the wilderness for more than 50 years through his Cheff Guest Ranch outfitting business.
The Ranch is still thriving as a family-run business offering guided trips into the Bob Marshall wilderness.
“He really enjoyed teaching the girls and boys working on the ranch, along with his kids,” Bud Jr. said. “Being in the wild didn’t scare any of us. It was part of our upbringing.”
Cheff was honored last year for being Montana’s oldest living outfitter, and having the longest on-going outfitting business in the state.
A talented writer and storyteller, Cheff wrote two books during his life, “Indian Trails and Grizzly Tales,” and “The Woodsman and his Hatchet.”
“He had a good memory of old things, early life, mountains and wildlife,” Bud Jr. said. “You could ask him any question about an animal and he would know it.”
Cheff and his wife Adelle played key roles in starting the First Baptist Church in Ronan, where son Happy Cheff spent 13 years as pastor. The couple were also charter members and co-founders of the Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana.
Cheff is preceded in death by his wife Adelle, daughter Viola, his parents, seven brothers, three sisters and four grandchildren.
