Royce's Obituary
Royce R. McDunn of Great Falls, born April 25, 1948, being a stickler for punctuality and organization, left this world on his 75th birthday, April 25, 2023. Royce passed away in the comfort of his own home after enduring a six-year battle with myeloproliferative disease, ending in acute myeloid leukemia.
A funeral Mass will be held on Monday, May 22, 2023, 11:00 a.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Church with a reception to follow in the Parish Hall and parking lot, so bring your Hot Rods. The service will be livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/holyspiritgf. Inurnment will take place at Hillcrest Lawn Mausoleum.
Royce was preceded in death by his parents, Roy and Rose Marie (Lesmeister) McDunn; and ex-wife, Barbara (Jackson) Kranz.
He is survived by his three sisters, Roxanne (Don) Hartman of Peoria, AZ, Ruan (John) Friedrick of Cle Elum, WA, and Rashel (Dale) Richard of Elk, WA; only daughter, Wendy McDunn; two grandsons, Reece (Talesha) Frank and Levi Frank; two great-grandchildren all of Great Falls; and a loving companion, Jan Ellings of Cut Bank.
Royce spent a great deal of his formative years being raised by his grandparents, Hadrian and Martha Lesmeister, farming the Fairfield Bench. This time on the farm spurred his love for farming which he would return to in the mid-80s farming in the Conrad/Brady area.
During Royce's school years, when not in school or sports, Royce went to work for his father at the service station, Roy's Standard, spurring his love for anything cars. Royce's time off of work would find him in the backyard garage and neighbors’ garages building and tuning his newest car for the pickup drags at Bootlegger Trail or local car show. This led to stock racing at Electric City Speedway and when not racing, working in the pit crew for other drivers, to dabbling in the drag races in Lewistown or whatever track was available back in the day, sanctioned or unsanctioned. Royce would later return to the drag racing scene in the mid-90s as a regular at Lewistown Raceway, Lost Creek Raceway, and the newly built Yellowstone Drag Strip in Billings, MT.
Royce was a retired firefighter, captain, and acting battalion chief for the Great Falls Fire Department, with 32 years serving the City of Great Falls. Royce was a stickler for precision, accuracy, and knowing local and federal fire codes. He often made enemies not out of spite, but rather because of his expectations and knowledge of the state fire codes and laws. He expected all of those he worked with to hold the highest standards and get a job exceptionally done. Royce had his AS in Fire Science and taught fire science at CGF/ UGF during his career with the GFFD.
With his entrepreneurial spirit Royce opened McDunn's Piccadilly Floral, in Holiday Village Mall with his wife Barbara (Jackson) McDunn and sat on the Board of directors of Holiday Village Mall until their divorce. Cars brought these two together as they both held an unmatched love for cars, this continued in many car adventures throughout their marriage. They belonged to the Electric City Van Club and put their cars in World of Wheels in Great Falls and Billings. Barb and Royce continued an amicable friendship still hanging out together on occasion until Barbara's unexpected death in 2020.
Royce had a plethora of knowledge. He was a voracious reader both for knowledge and enjoyment. He was always well read on all aspects of any venture, hobby, or business. He was not content with just taking over a job. He researched how to refine and improve everything he was involved in, often that was not the popular decision, but to the chagrin of others turned out to be the most productive in the long run. Somehow, in his busy adult life, he returned to college to complete his BS in Sociology from UGF 30 years after he started.
Royce was a hard worker and was known for never sitting still. Alabama's song “I'm In a Hurry” could be the song that most describes Royce. He worked hard and at times played harder, from snowmobiling, downhill skiing, water skiing, boating, and spending time at Hauser Lake, playing racquetball, working out, weight training, as mentioned earlier stock car racing, drag racing, attending car shows, to obtaining a pilot’s license to fly his ultra-light. Royce was an active member in Holy Spirit Catholic Parish, speaking regularly during Mass, and acting as a Eucharistic minister.
After retiring from the fire department, Royce was unable to sit still and took on many jobs. After hanging up his racing helmet he became the General Manager for Big Sky Speedway and Yellowstone Drag Strip both in Billings, drove truck for Ostermiller Construction in the off season, and hauled equipment for U-Haul, just to mention a few. It was hard to say good-bye as Royce crossed his final finish line.
