Donald Edward Marchwick
Donald Edward (Curley) Marchwick, 96, passed away peacefully in Butte, Mont., at the Southwest Montana Veterans Home on Dec. 7, 2022.
Fortunate to have lived his first 90 years with very few health ailments, recent years were filled with age-related conditions and, a year ago, he moved into the veterans’ home in Butte, where he received excellent continual care.
The son of Peter Marchwick and Marie Tlustosch, Curley was born Oct. 13, 1926, in Culbertson, Mont., and grew up in Sidney and Culbertson. Independent from an early age, he left high school to join the U.S. Navy in July 1943, serving in the Asiatic Pacific until World War II ended. In November 1946, he completed his service and returned to Culbertson, where he worked as a truck driver for Great Northern Railroad. There, he met Grace Neikirk of Bainville. They married in Culbertson on Nov. 6, 1948.
Curley and Grace embarked upon a vagabond life, moving across Montana and back again, building an active family of five children over 10 years, with each one born in a different city. When the fourth child reached school age in 1962, the family settled in Wolf Point where they spent the next 16 years.
Although Curley spent some time in sales (life insurance, mobile homes) and construction, he always returned to long distance truck driving, hauling loads of grain and cattle over the open road. In Wolf Point, he was owner/ operator of the trucking firm Crown Distributors for many years while his kids completed their pre-college education in the Wolf Point school system.
