Harold McCaskie, who was a farmer, engineer, hunter, optical shop employee, and raconteur died on January 18, 2015 at Rosebud Health Care Center.
Born in 1930 to Robert and Gladys (Yearous) McCaskie, Harold lived on the family farm near Vananda, MT and in Vananda until high school. His high school years were spent in Miles City, returning to Vananda after graduation. Entering College at Montana State University (Bozeman) in 1947, Harold became a member of the Pi-Kappa-Alpha fraternity (The Beer Kaps) that same year and did not graduate until 1976. Of Course, Harold’s on-campus years were only two. It was in college that Harold found his love of Jazz music and it stayed throughout his life. After being released from the Montana State system, Harold found employment in Coos Bay, Oregon at a restaurant and later an optical shop where the apprenticeship lasted for 1 year. After this, Harold returned to the family farm where he educated his many nephews and nieces in the areas of farming, farm equipment repair, hunting, first aid, high speed driving, and automobile repair.
A self-taught engineer, Harold acknowledged that he could fix anything except parking lot tickets. Harold always had a discriminating palette and in his early years was a regular customer of the Howdy Saloon, switching to the Blue Spruce/Bloomin’ Onion/Fitzgerald’s Restaurant after his matriculation from the Rimrock Foundation’s college of Advanced Dehydration. Always a forward looking thinker, Harold pioneered no till farming thirty years before it became popular, missing the current USDA guidelines only with respect to the use of chemicals. Harold’s proficiency with words was demonstrated by his five consecutive first place finishes in the “Vananda All City Crossword Competition and Grasshopper Pitchfork Fondue” from 1999 to 2003.
In 1974 Harold became the longtime consort of Alyce Kerr, and they found happiness with each other until her death in 1992. Harold is preceded in death by a sister, Helen Wayman, and survived by a sister, Grace Mosdal of Billings, MT. Harold is also survived by a cousin, Don McCaskie of Lakeview, WA; a niece, Kathy Mosdal O’Brien of Billings, MT; nephews, David Mosdal of Broadview, MT, Andrew Mosdal of Newport, CT, Robert Wayman of Billings, MT; friends Lori Kerr Hughes of Everett, WA, Lee Kerr of Tyler, TX, Alyson Wortel of Eugene, OR and by about half of the town of Forsyth, MT.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made through a gift to a favorite charity or through service to those in need.
Services will be held at the Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home in Forsyth, MT at 11:00 am on May 9, 2015.
Service Schedule
Celebration of Life
11:00 am
Saturday May 9, 2015
Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home
245 Westwind Ln.
Forsyth, MT 59327
Service Schedule
Celebration of Life
11:00 am
Saturday May 9, 2015
Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home
245 Westwind Ln.
Forsyth, MT 59327
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Chrisitne Kanta Godinez says
So sad to hear about Harold. Many good times have been had at his expense. Espeicaly the out-house episode. He will be missed!
Connie Brown says
Harold was always a joy to visit with, which usually was held in a cafe in Forsyth. The people of Forsyth will sure miss him but at the same time am glad he is now pain free! God bless you my friend.
Lori Kerr Hughes says
I smile thinking of Harold. I loved hearing him and Mom (Alyce) laugh. His planning stages lasted decades. He was my special project because I thought he should have a real job. It appears his job was bringing smiles to his friends and family or helping them out. Once he asked Mom if he could bring home the cute young waitress for his pet. She said no because she’d have to feed her like she did all the kids’ pets. Harold was thrifty and generous. Picky and forgiving. He loved taking me around to visit his friends or play keno. I only know about the $200 win in Ballentine . We bonded remembering Mom and could make a trip to Billings driving on the north side of the Yellowstone last until bedtime. He calculated how much they spent feeding cat Fluffy during her 23- year life. One 30 below Wyoming winter, he spent days chipping away at the ice and frozen locks on my truck. I bet we will all miss Harold, but I am glad he is finally at rest.
Lee Kerr says
Harold was a true Montana curmudgeon in the most positive and endearing sense of the term! Through my mother I got to know Harold, and over the years shared more time with him, discussing many topics of the day, from how the stock market was always about the collapse to politics and the weather. He had an intriguing sense of humor with a unique flair for the cynical and sarcastic, in which we both found solace. Through this looking glass, he found humor everywhere. He had a quick wit and a sharp tongue that most who knew him found endearing. Harold lost a leg as a child and tried to never let that set him back. He preferred working alone from years working alone the north side. Harold always said he thought he was part Egyptian, since if given enough time, he could move anything. From rebuilding tractors with JB Weld to loading a piano, he would get the job done working by himself. He seldom returned personal letters or phone calls, but always covered well by claiming to be in the witness relocation program. He loved to tell the story of my attempting to rescue him from a swarm of wasps attacking him in the garden. Attempting to drag a one legged man with an artificial leg away from swarming insects is not a pretty sight, but it generated some excitement and made for a good story! You are missed old friend!
Maggie Kanta Pate says
My prayers go out to all of Harold’s family, and to you Lori and all of the Kerr family. What a bittersweet loss we share in Harold’s death. We’ll all miss him, yet we can’t help but feel joyful that he at last is free from his pain. I’ll always treasure his wonderful smile, funny stories and conversations we shared when I would be home and join Dad and Harold for breakfasts or other outings. He never complained about his leg, ever, and now he won’t ever have to as he’s healed and dancing throughout eternity. Dance on my friend, dance on.
Mike Riley says
I was immediately angry at myself when I saw Harold’s obituary. I should have made the visit I intended long ago. Instead, I guess I counted on his always being in Fitzgerald’s with Paul Kanta, and sitting down with them at a late breakfast, enjoying some of the best conversation I’ve known, the sharp twinkle in his eyes and easy grin and quick wit like no other. He never failed to provide me with a fresh joke about the Scots so I could needle my Scottish wife with it, and Paul and he seemed to have one more story about my Dad I hadn’t heard yet. And I have to say beneath it all I found him to be a very kind man, tough as he was. I guess I have to be content with having known him, unless of course I dig him up and have one more conversation, one-sided as it would be.
Alan Rolston says
Harold was one of those people who always left you with a warm glow and a big smile. He was a delightful conversationalist with a great wit and sense of humor, qualities that are in short supply in our world. Whenever he and Paul Kanta stopped at the feed store, I knew my barbecue and skewering were on deck. Paul called my place Bookman’s after the name of a Jewish gentlemen who had a store in Ingomar or Sumatra and Harold got a big kick out of my new nickname. Harold must have been a Bhuddist because he enjoyed life as it presented itself everyday. Wish I could be there to wish him bon voyage and give him a tip of the hat from old “Bookman”.
Kurt Seward says
Harold was one of the most pleasant people I had the pleasure of meeting. I enjoyed visiting with him every chance I could. Harold will truly be missed.