Benjamin Paul Crowder

Benjamin Paul Crowder left this Earth on September 20th after fighting a courageous battle with Wegeners disease. He was welcomed into Heaven in the arms of his mother. He was born on July 8th, 1941 to Earl and Pauline (Wiederrick) Crowder at the homestead south of Malta, Sarathna Spencer was the midwife. Years later as he approached school age he went to First Creek school and was taught by none other than Mrs Spencer. Ben was one of 14 siblings, 10 boys and 4 girls. He met and married Sharon Ann Jaynes on January 23, 1960. Out of this union they had 5 children, Kenneth, Carl, Paul, Patricia and Joe. They lived in Rudyard where he drove school bus before moving back to Malta to work as a mechanic, eventually owning his own business, Delta Ford. He was a volunteer member of the Malta Fire Dept for a number of years, still remember hearing the phone ring off the wall until it was answered. When the old Great Northern hotel burned he was at that fire for 2 days. He had a Cessna plane he loved flying. Took the kids up every chance he got, rolled them out of bed some weekends to go up in the clouds. Also flew over the Larb Hills looking for Elk. He loved camping, fishing, riding 4 wheelers, hunting and shooting prairie dogs. He had a lot of friends that he enjoyed sharing these activities with, one being the late Adolph Eklund and his buddy Cranston Hawley. Their favorite camp was at the old Sun Prairie homestead where his brother Ervin and wife Donna live, playing Cooke City rummy around the table just being with family. He shared these activities with his kids as they grew up. He also took them to his favorite place to be, Zortman, Mt. He never missed a winter Christmas tree hunting in the Little Rockies looking for that perfect tree to take home and flock. If you ever rode with him you know he never met a hill he couldn’t climb. He loved hiding Easter eggs more than the children, and then grandchildren, did finding them. He was married 2 more times before finding his companion, best friend Dorene Wirth. Together they built a home in Lewistown, eventually moving to Moore, Mt. They traveled the US and Canada in their RV for many years, from one coast to the other.

Ben is survived by his companion Dorene Wirth of Moore Mt, children Carl (Lonna) Crowder of Malta, Paul Crowder of Utah, Patricia (Don) Snell, Joe (Eunice) Crowder and Tonya Crowder of Malta. His siblings, Ervin (Donna) Crowder of Sun Prairie, Bill (Darl) Crowder of Malta, Earline (Lloyd) Knudsen of Malta, Alice Anderson of Malta, Gary (Linda) Crowder of Shepard, MT, Butch (Carol) Crowder of Lewistown, MT, Tom (Sharon) Crowder of Sundance, WY and Harold (Rose) Crowder of Helena, MT. His beloved grandchildren Emili Wilkins of Billings, Angie Crowder of Billings, Aaron Crowder of BIllings, Sophia Crowder of Utah, Terence, Jackson and Lola Snell of Malta, Kyle LaTray of ND, Jasmine Young of Malta, Shawn Wright, Kailey Crowder of Malta and numerous great grandchildren.

Ben was preceded in death by his parents, baby sister Peggy, his oldest son Kenneth, his brother Bob, brother Frank, sister Rose, oldest brother Allen and his granddaughter Jessie Crowder.

There will be a Memorial Service held October 3rd at 11 am at Buffs Day Camp in Zortman, Mt.

There will be an ATV ride in memory of Ben following the service.