James "Butch" Haggerty

GLENDIVE, MONTANA: James "Butch" Haggerty, 68, went to be with the Lord, following a courageous battle with Leukemia, on Friday, January 25, 2008 at the Billings Clinic in Billings, Montana. A Life Tribute Service will be held on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 10:00 A.M. in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Glendive with Celebrant Sandy Silha and Fr. Joseph Ponessa officiating. Interment will be in the Dawson County Cemetery of Glendive. Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home of Glendive is entrusted with the arrangements. Butch was born on August 4, 1939, in Glendive, the son of James and Ellenor (Shaub) Haggerty. He attended schools in Glendive and graduated from Dawson County High School with the class of 1958. He attended Dawson Community College in Glendive for one year. In 1959, Butch joined the National Guard where he served until his honorable discharge in 1965. Butch went to work for Montana Dakota Utilities in 1960 and continued his employment there until his retirement in 2000. On August 26, 1961, Butch married his high school sweetheart, Annette Feisthamel, and they shared their life together for 47 years. Butch was, first and foremost, a family man. He was a very devoted husband, father and grandfather and his family was his whole life. He especially thrived on seeing his beloved grandchildren. Hobbies included working in his yard, doing odd jobs, reading, following sports (especially football), and taking trips to visit his family. Butch was preceded in death by his parents and an infant daughter, Marie. Survivors include his wife Annette of Glendive, three sons; Shawn Haggerty and his wife Sundae and their children Montana and Morgan of South Sioux City, Nebraska, Ty Haggerty and his wife Jenine and their children Derek and Paige of Spearfish, South Dakota and Ryan Haggerty and his wife Jenni and their children Kyle and Conner of Onalaska, Wisconsin, two sisters; Donna Wolfe and her husband Rex of Sheridan, Wyoming and Mickey Warner of Apache Junction, Arizona and several nieces and nephews. Butch's wonderful sweetness and loving heart will be so missed!!! Celebrant Service: A man’s legacy is measured by the gifts he leaves behind. James “Butch” Haggerty’s legacy is that he gave a part of himself to each member of his family. Butch has touched each of their lives with his life in many, many ways. As a husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather, Butch is a part of them and will live on in their hearts. To honor the significance Butch has had in the lives of his family, Butch’s grandchildren, Montana, Morgan, Derek, Paige, Kyle, and Connor, will each light a candle to represent the love and appreciation the family has for Butch. Grandson Derek and Butch had a greeting that had special meaning to them. “Good to see you” they would call out to each other and smile, trying to be the first to say it. Granddaughter Paige has a memory of her grandfather that makes Paige smile. Butch and Annette were visiting the family at their home in Spearfish, SD. There is a llama farm nearby that the Haggerty’s would go by as they traveled the Spearfish area. Butch had seen it on previous visits. On this day, there were deer feeding in the pasture with the llamas. Butch glanced over at the llamas and commented, “Look at all the baby llamas.” Paige thought this extremely hilarious and would tease her grandfather about “baby llamas”. For Montana and Morgan, their favorite times spent with Grandpa were sharing the experiences of the annual trip to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. The fun of Camp Snoopy and riding the rides with Grandpa was the highlight of their trip. Kyle’s special memory is of shadowing boxing with his grandfather, and threatening and being threatened about being bopped on the nose. And six year old Connor, when being told of his grandfather’s death, went to his mother Jenine and asked “if she knew Dad’s dad had died?” “Yes” Jenine replied, and then tried to explain about how they would all come here to get together and remember his grandfather, and that Butch was in heaven. With the wisdom and insight of his six years, Connor’s response was that now Grandpa was “his angel”. Let us remember Connor’s angel, Butch Haggerty, as we watch a tribute video prepared by the Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home, with photos and music selected by Butch’s family. Video Tribute Celebrant: William Wordsworth wrote, “The best portion of a good man’s life are his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.” That would define Butch Haggerty. Throughout his life, this good man performed an abundance of small, but important acts that reflected the thoughtful and kind-hearted person that Butch was. These deeds set a high example for those around Butch who observed and benefited from the way Butch lived. All three of Butch’s sons and their spouses, commented about the care, consideration and love with which Butch treated Annette, his wife. She was most important to Butch, and her importance to him was apparent each day of their nearly 47 years of marriage. Butch was always a great help with the household chores, working and sharing these chores with Annette to maintain their home. Although Butch didn’t cook, he was always willing to help prepare food, or clean up. We probably shouldn’t say he never cooked. On Saturdays, Annette would eat out with her friends, and Butch would feed the kids one of three kinds of sandwiches; grilled cheese, fried egg, or fried spam. It’s been a long time since any of the boys have eaten spam. Butch and Annette also worked together on maintaining their yard, and had many chats over the fence with their backyard neighbors, George and Marlene Kolling. Butch and George finally cut a gate in the back fence so they could cut across the back yard to visit with each other. Butch did not have a competitive spirit, and knowing Annette was very competitive, Butch was generally very gracious about seeing to it he lost whenever they played cards, or when the family held the weekly football picks. And Butch never seemed to mind the endless ribbing he took for always losing. It was just one of those small but important things Butch did. One example of just how far out of his comfort zone Butch would go, is best illustrated by a story told by Butch’s son, Ty. Ty was pet sitting for a neighbor, pet sitting a boa constrictor snake. Annette claims Butch had a deep phobia of snakes. Ty, while feeding the snake, somehow didn’t get the cage shut tightly and the snake got out. Ty was frantic. Butch, in spite of his fear, went over to the neighbor’s house with Ty to search for the snake. Ty eventually found the snake in a closet. Butch said after the snake was safely back in the cage, that had he, Butch, found the snake, the neighbors would have had a new doorway, because Butch would have made a fast exit. Another small but important thing Butch had was his money stash. Annette knew he kept some extra money in his wallet, but had never seen it and didn’t know just how much was in the stash. Ty claims it was a huge roll of bills. And during the boys’ days as college students and young adults, when the boys would leave after a visit home, Butch would pull out the stash and send money with the boys. He often would follow them to the gas station and fill up their vehicles’ gas tanks for the trip back to college. This good deed did backfire on Ryan. It was Ryan’s 16th birthday, and as Butch went to fill Ryan’s vehicle with gas, a vodka bottle rolled out from under the front seat. Needless to say, Ryan’s 16th birthday was a bit more memorable than either Ryan or Butch had planned. One of the things Butch’s sons, Shawn, Ty and Ryan recall, was the second job Butch took on for their benefit. While growing up, each of the boys delivered newspapers for the Ranger Review. The paper came out on Wednesday and Saturday. On many Wednesdays the boys went to CCD classes, so Butch would deliver papers for them. Saturdays were a big day for sports, which the boys were also involved in, and so Butch would deliver many Saturdays when the boys were busy with other obligations. For Butch, delivering newspaper on his sons’ paper routes was just like having a part time job, with no pay, and probably at the time, no thanks. Today Shawn, Ty and Ryan remember this kind deed and can appreciate what Butch did for them. Another activity from their childhood that the boys remember enjoying and being thankful for at the time, was a Christmas tradition that Butch and his brother-in-law, Wally Broeder, had each year. In hindsight, the boys do see a bit of self-interest that Butch and Wally may have had. Shawn probably wasn’t as much a part of this tradition as Ty and Ryan, and Wally’s children, Wes and Becky. Butch and Wally would load the kids up each Christmas season to take part in the Elk’s Club’s annual Santa Day. The kids would go to the Elk’s Club to watch movies, have a visit with Santa, and get a big bag of Christmas candy. During this afternoon of Santa and fun for the kids, Butch and Wally would hang out in the Elk’s lounge. The kids got to go every year, even when they got to be of an age where they didn’t want to go. It was about at age 12 that the kids just refused to go. With no kids of their own to take to Santa Day, Wally tells that he and Butch tried to find some other kids to take, but were not able to, and finally just had to give up their annual Santa Day. Butch was quite a handyman, and enjoyed fixing things around the house and yard. Butch’s sons, however, never acquired their father’s adeptness or desire to do this kind of work, as Butch’s daughter-in-laws discovered. Jenine, Ty’s wife, commented that Butch was as close to a father as she had ever had. Jenine would look forward to Butch visiting and would have her “Butch list” of projects ready whenever Butch the Bulldog, Jenine’s name for Butch, and Annette would travel their way. Jenine would even suggest to Ty that maybe he could have his father show him how to do some of these things, but that never happened. Butch was more than willing to help out by doing Jenine’s projects. Butch loved being a handyman, and did it whenever asked. He was always willing to help family and friends out whenever helped was needed. Annette tells that Butch had his own unique way to fix things, and most times his way worked just fine. One time it didn’t go so well, was when Butch decided to stain the deck. Butch had gotten a power washer to clean all the boards with. It was one Butch borrowed from MDU, a big commercial washer. As Butch was cleaning the deck, Annette noticed big gouges in the wood. Pointing this out to Butch, it dawned on them that the washer was cleaning too deeply, taking pieces of wood with the spray. Luckily, Butch hadn’t hit the whole deck with the sprayer, and only had to replace parts of the deck. Shawn recalls Butch fixing a broken kitchen chair. Whatever it was that was wrong, Butch fixed it by shimming it up with toothpicks. Problem was, that the toothpicks slid up through the cushion of the chair and began poking through the seat, making it very uncomfortable for anyone that sat in the chair. Butch never did live that one down. Whenever he would fix anything after that repair job, the family would remind him to get the “toothpicks”. Butch, good-naturedly, took their teasing in stride. One thing Butch’s family appreciated was the special way he had with his grandchildren. Butch enjoyed visiting his grandchildren and spending time with them. He had a special rapport with them. A couple times that stand out with the family was at a wedding and at a baptism. At each, one of the grandkids, Derek and Kyle, were of preschool age, and began acting up. Butch took the grandson outside and spoke with him privately for a few minutes. When they returned, the grandson behaved like an angel. No one ever found out just what Butch had said to his grandsons to get them to behave. Butch’s own sons recall having many laughs about Butch’s disciplining techniques. Oh, they got spankings as youngsters! Shawn and Ty tell of spankings; Ryan cannot remember getting any. Butch had a favorite orange paddle he would use that was a cutting board. It was a big and clumsy paddle, and Butch couldn’t get much energy behind his swing. It would land with a thud, sending the recipient into laughter. This laughter only earned the offender another spanking, until it registered that pain must at least be faked. If nothing else, it was always fun to try to get your brother, who was probably also an offender, laughing, so he could earn another swat with the orange paddle. Annette’s often repeated threat of “wait until your father gets home”, would only bring on a barely-concealed smile. In truth, Butch was a gentle and sweet man. He grew up as the youngest of three children, being at least ten years younger than his two sisters. They described Butch as always being the baby of the family and they loved Butch so much they even took him with them on dates. Which could explain his expectations when dating Annette. Butch was a senior and Annette was a sophomore when Butch invited her to the drive-in movie on a first date. Then there was a second date, and then a few weeks later, a third, and well, the rest is history. Butch later confessed to Annette that after the second date he almost dumped her because she hadn’t even give him a good-night kiss and Butch thought she was a bit of a cold fish. Annette figures the third date must have gone okay, Butch never looked back from there. Throughout his life, Butch enjoyed sports. As a youth, Butch played baseball, football and even a bit of basketball. During his year at Dawson Community College, the basketball team needed another person, and when asked to join, Butch did, knowing he would never see any game time. And he didn’t, but he was okay with sitting the bench. Butch never missed any of his sons’ games, and no matter how they played, Butch only said positive things about their efforts. As a father of three boys, Butch had plenty of opportunity to help with various sports programs of the kids. Butch would help coach when asked; he did some umping, preferring to be a base ump rather than the home plate ump. Shawn has a distinct memory of coming into home plate and the plate umpire, Butch, calling him out! Shawn still insists he was safe. Butch even did the announcing at one game, but only one game. As Butch recapped at the end of an inning, he ended with the words, “No hits, no runs, no arrows.” Butch knew as soon as those words were out, he was sunk. Family and friends were merciless about “no arrows”. Butch had no choice but to have a good sense of humor. Butch’s favorite sport was football. His favorite teams were the Chicago Bears, Notre Dame, and the Griz. Each year, the family would get together in Minneapolis and do the Mall of America and take in a Vikings game. Once the game was even a Viking-Bears game. Another favorite of Butch’s was pheasant hunting. Shawn and Ty remember many a hunting trip but very few pheasant coming home. According to Shawn, Butch just enjoyed the experience of the hunt, being outdoors with birds flushing, and shooting holes in the sky with his gun. Walking was pretty much a daily routine for Butch and Annette. Many miles were walked and conservations shared as they enjoyed each other’s company in the scenic beauty of Makoshika Park and along the college hill. Butch and Annette even claim to have seen a big horn sheep by the college on one such walk. Butch grew up playing cards and knew and enjoyed playing many card games. Country music was always his favorite to listen to. And Butch looked forward to and rarely missed his afternoon coffee time with friends. One of the favorite stories told by Butch, Annette and their friends was the worm raising story. Butch, and friends, George Kolling and Harold Heafield, decided to make some big money raising worms, “red wigglies” to be specific. Harold had come upon a group of men who were brokering worms to sewage waste disposal places in Oregon. Butch, George and Harold decided it was worth their time and money to invest and grow these worms to sell. Each kicked in $175 or $200, no one remembers the exact amount now. George got some scrap lumber from the railroad and built boxes to grow the worms in. They fixed up a building on Harold’s place in the country, putting in heat and finishing the interior. They collected newspaper, shredded them and soaked them in water, wringing out the wet newspaper by hand, and using it and peat moss to put all the “red wigglies” in to grow. It seems that perhaps a six pack or two was involved also. The men fully intended to get rich on these worms. The wives, Annette and Marlene, had their doubts, and they had their fun with the worms also. The ladies told the men that the worms all needed names, and probably each worm should be branded. When it came time to sell the worms, the ladies just knew it would require a round-up to rope and corral the worms, to get them to market. As it turned out, according to Harold, the worm brokers who had sold them on the idea did a bit of false advertising and the government shut them down. With their market gone, Butch, George and Harold ended up putting the worms in Harold’s garden and calling it quits. But none ever regretted the venture. They’d had way too much fun! In sharing the memories you have heard today, family and friends have shed a few tears and had an abundance of smiles and laughs. Today is an important day. We have put aside the busyness of our day to honor and pay tribute to Butch Haggerty. With his death, there will be no new stories about Butch. The memories Butch has made with family and friends will be treasured by them for the rest of their lives. A simple, uncomplicated man, Butch will long be remembered for his sweet, caring, and loving ways. Butch’s death has left a hole in many hearts. The significance of his life and death on family, friends, and community is expressed in our grief, in our hope, and in our memories. Annette, you have had many years of memories with Butch. It is our hope that you can draw on these memories to find comfort, and that you can look at the wonderful family you and Butch have helped to create by your love and example, and feel blessed to have had Butch as your life partner. We grieve with you and for you. Shawn, Ty, and Ryan, your father has left you with many gifts. Some you are already aware of and can appreciate, others you will discover with time and life experiences. Your dad will continue to teach you as you remember the man he was and the life he lived. He is forever a part of you. Montana and Morgan, Derek and Paige, Kyle and Connor, you have been fortunate to have known and shared experiences, conversations, and special moments with your grandfather. He was so very proud of each of you and truly enjoyed you. Your grandfather is part of your heritage and lives on in each of you. As friends of Butch and of his family, we cannot take away the pain of their loss, nor should we. Butch was an important person in the lives of many. He will be missed. The family will need you in the coming weeks and months. When you are reminded of Butch share it with them. Send a note or e-mail, call, or stop in to visit and let Butch’s family know what a significant impact Butch had on your life and that you too remember Butch. Remember the 1sts, the 1st holidays, the 1st birthdays, the 1st anniversaries for at these times Butch’s absence will be felt with a fresh sense of loss. Be very present during these times and honor the memory of this good man. Butch will be laid to rest today with his baby daughter, Marie. Following the committal, the family will be leaving pennies with Butch at his grave. These pennies symbolize their loving thoughts of him. As they go about the busyness of their lives, when they unexpectedly find a penny just laying somewhere, these “pennies from heaven” will remind them that Butch is thinking of them and sending them a kiss. To end our eulogy about James “Butch” Haggerty, please listen to the following: To have lived well, laughed often, and loved much To have gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children To have filled a niche and accomplished a task To have left the world better and to have appreciated earth’s beauty and not failed to express it To have looked for the best in others and have given the best of yourself That is achievement. Thank you, Butch for showing us how to find our own special achievements. Father Ponessa will now share scripture and prayer with us.

James "Butch" Haggerty

August 4, 1939 - January 29, 2008

What We Do

Flowers & Gifts

Plan Ahead

About Us

Resources

Obituaries

Grief & Healing

Contact Information

James "Butch" Haggerty

August 4, 1939 - January 29, 2008

What We Do

Flowers & Gifts

Plan Ahead

About Us

Resources

Obituaries

Grief & Healing

Contact Information

365 Days of Grief Support