Gale "Topper" Howell

Gale left this world to be with the Lord on Sept. 10, 2018, after a short battle with stage 4 cancer.

Gale L “Topper” Howell was born to Floyd and Carrel Viola Howell Jan. 31, 1939, at Keokuk Area Hospital, Keokuk, Iowa. Topper attended school at Star School and Kahoka High School where he graduated in 1956. He worked for a year at Reed Van Black after which he joined the U.S. Army in 1957 and was discharged honorably in 1963 after serving a four-year active duty time and a two-year inactive.

Topper moved to Montana in 1962 where he got a job working on a ranch. He was joined shortly after by Bonnie Jean Bruner, and they married in April 1963. They had a daughter, Robin Dawn. The couple then moved to the Flathead Valley in western Montana, where they had three boys, Anthony “Tony” Howell of Columbia Falls, Robert “ Robb” Howell of Medford, Oregon, and Carl Howell of Kalispell. The couple divorced in 1983.

Gale then married Janice Plummer of Whitefish in July 1984 where they lived until her death in 2009. Topper then married his current wife, Mary Jo Dean of Kahoka, Missouri, in 2010 and lived in Whitefish until his death in 2018.

Topper was preceded in death by his parents, Carrel and Floyd, a daughter Robin, nephew Ethan Duckworth, and brother-in-law R.C “Sonny” Duckworth.

He is survived by his current wife, Mary Jo Howell, of Whitefish; his three sons and stepsons, Stan, Steve and Darrel; and special stepson Corey; ex-wife; sister, Glee “Sug” Snead, of Kahoka; niece, Bethany Duckworth, of Macon, Missouri; 13 grandchildren in various states; and numerous step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

Memorial services for Gale will be at 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 17, at Buffalo Hills Funeral Home in Kalispell, followed by a luncheon reception at the Back Room in Columbia Falls, at 12:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Whole Living Learning Center. Buffalo Hill Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for the family.Friends are encouraged to visit the website, www.buffalohillfh.com, to leave notes of condolence for the family.