Just as peacefully and quiet as he lived, Ralph Fred Thisted, 91, of the Ninemile Valley, Montana, passed away Tuesday, May 9, 2017, of natural causes, at home, with his wife and family members by his side. Ralph is the husband of longtime member Betty Gaither Thisted.
Ralph was born Nov. 12, 1925, to Fred and Claudia Thisted in a small cabin on Birch Creek, near Valier, located on the Blackfeet Reservation. The family ran several bands of sheep while living on Birch Creek, enjoying life there until it was time for Ralph to enter first grade. The severe winter weather did not allow him to ride his horse the 4 miles to the one room schoolhouse, so the family moved to Raynsford, a small community near Great Falls, a whistle stop on the railroad, where the family raised a few cattle, did some farming, and were able to board their children with a family to attend school in Great Falls. Drought conditions prevailed in the Raynsford area the next few years, which prompted the Thisteds to begin their search for another place to farm and ranch — a place where there was abundant water. Ralph remembers the comments his mother made in 1937 after visiting the for sale ranch in the Ninemile, "we have found just the place, there is plenty of running water in the house and indoors plumbing." And so the ranch was purchased and to the Ninemile the family moved in 1938. Ralph attended school in Alberton and following graduation in 1944 he was drafted into the United States Army serving in the Pacific Theater as part of the occupational forces stationed in Kyoto, Japan. In November 1946 he received an Honorable Discharge from the Army. Continue reading