Grant Greiman

Glendive, Montana: Grant Stuart Greiman, age 96, passed away on Sunday, March 17, 2013, on his mother’s birthday, at the Eastern Montana Veterans Home in Glendive. He passed away peacefully with a blizzard howling outside. He “went out like a lion” much as he lived his entire life. Funeral Services with military honors will be at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, March 23, 2013 at the First Congregational United Church of Christ with Reverend T.C. Chatman and Brother Guy Pontoriero officiating. Interment will be held in the Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery North of Glendive. Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home of Glendive has been entrusted with the arrangements. Grant was born on October 2, 1916 in Rural Dawson County, Montana on their family homestead with the help of a mid-wife, to Herman John and Caroline S. (Syverson) Greiman. Grant’s father was a German from Iowa and his mother was born in Norway. He would ride horse or walked to school which was about five miles from their ranch. One of his teachers remembered him with a shudder seventy years later! Grant was a prankster and some of his exploits were: feeding his teachers horse tobacco to make him very “loose,” roping the mailman as he chugged by in his open car, and putting a very angry baby owl in the mailbox so the poor mailman would get bitten. Grant’s father passed away when Grant was six years old so things were tough for those four kids. Grant only went through the eighth grade before he quit school to work. Grant worked the Buffalo Rapids irrigation ditches ditching with horses. In 1941, Grant enlisted in the United States Marines during the Dawson County Fair in Glendive. He was on his way to Butte, Montana to take his physical when Pearl Harbor was bombed. In San Diego, California they had to patrol the beaches with clubs because there were not enough guns to provide to everybody. Grant’s served his country in the South Pacific where he took part in the landings on Guam and Tarawa. Grant ended up spending close to a year in the California Military Hospitals trying to get his stomach back to working properly. He was honorably discharged from military service in October of 1945. Grant met Alta May Shaw in the summer of 1948 and they were united in marriage in Miles City, Montana on January 10, 1949. Following their marriage they went to California for a two month honeymoon. This was the last real vacation Grant ever really took. Together as a couple they bought a ranch on Thirteen Mile Creek in the fall of 1949 where Grant worked from dawn until dusk every day. Grant and Alta always owned a couple horses but in 1967, Grant got his first race horse, a mare. This brought them into the horse business. He owned more than three hundred horses at one point. Alta May would take them to the race tracks in Miles City, Billings, Montana, Gillette, Wyoming, Great Falls, Montana, and Forsyth, Montana. They sent horses with other trainers to Minnesota, Texas and California. In 1992, Alta May had a stroke and couldn’t train horses anymore. She continued to keep Grant on the straight and narrow though until the time of her death on December 26, 2002. Grant stayed at the ranch alone until he was nearly blind and had to move to the Eastern Montana Veterans Home in Glendive where he resided until his death. Grant enjoyed entertaining his four daughters, eleven grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren or just about anyone that would listen to his stories about the olden days. Grant was a member of the Montana and American Thoroughbred Association and the Montana and American Quarter Horse Association. He was preceded in death by his parents, Herman and Caroline Greiman; his wife, Alta May Greiman; daughter, Katie Gierke; son-in-law, Terry Gierke; and siblings, Alice Greiman, Doris Hafele and Loyd Greiman. Survivors include his children, Anne (Ron) Freistone of Glendive, Karen (Bob) Reilly of Stanford, Montana and Sandra (Tim) Schwartz of San Francisco, California; sister, Ruby Richert of Big Timber, Montana; eleven grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren with one on the way and numerous nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers donations are requested to the charity of your choice in Grant’s name. Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at: www.silvernale-silhafuneralhome.com.

Grant Greiman

October 2, 1916 - March 23, 2013

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Grant Greiman

October 2, 1916 - March 23, 2013

What We Do

Flowers & Gifts

Plan Ahead

About Us

Resources

Obituaries

Grief & Healing

Contact Information

365 Days of Grief Support