Paul Martin Breitbach, 70, passed away unexpectedly in his Lincoln, MT home on Wednesday, July 4, 2018.
Paul was born in 1948 to Fabian and Irene (Sailer) Breitbach of Circle, Montana. He was the oldest of seven children, one of whom died in infancy. Paul grew up with his brothers and sisters on the family farm and was quite the young entrepreneur, raising collie dogs and Shetland ponies, and selling chicken eggs as a young man.
After graduating from Circle High School, Paul went on to Carroll College in Helena. He completed a degree in accounting and attended law school for a year at the University of Montana before becoming an accountant for the state. During this time, he met and married Barbara Gray. Paul and Barbara had one daughter, Jennifer, and later divorced.
Paul moved home to work on the family farm in the mid-1970s. In Circle, he met and married Beverly Derry. The couple had two children, Jon Paul and Amanda, and lived on the farm for many years. They later divorced.
Paul lived in Acton, MT for several years, where he worked at the local race track, and then moved to Lincoln, where he worked for the Bouma post yard until retirement. In his final years, he enjoyed fishing with his good friend Jim and the company of his black lab, Jake.
Paul loved fast cars, good dogs, and loud music. He enthusiastically pursued hobbies including driving stock race cars, competitive pistol shooting, gunsmithing, playing pool, and singing karaoke.
Paul is survived by two brothers, Pat Breitbach and Perry (Audrey) Breitbach of Circle; two sisters, Rose (Gary) Knowles of Monmouth, OR and DeeAnn (Chad) Sutter of Miles City; one uncle, Bill Breitbach of Glendive; a son, Jon (Jennifer) Breitbach of Butte; two daughters, Jennifer (Loren) Pulvermacher of Westby and Amanda (Ryan) Breitbach of Nacogdoches, TX; three granddaughters, three grandsons, and one great-grandson. He was preceded in death by his parents and by a sister, Mariann (Andy) Mikes.
A private celebration of Paul’s life will be held at a later date. Memories and condolences may be shared through Big Sky Cremations and Twitchell Funeral Service, online at http://www.helenafunerals.com.
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James Savstrom says
My best friend! I will miss him so very much, words fall short. We spent many years, days and moments together. Paul was a great partner, I feel blessed to have known him!
RIP my friend!:notes:
Amber Breitbach says
Paul and I had an adversarial relationship when I was a kid. I’m pretty sure I drove him nuts… In fact, I know I did! One time, I called the house to talk to Amanda at 7am on a Saturday. He was not pleased… I had to ask mom what “tan my hide” meant. As I became an adult, I realized we did have a lot in common, our senses of humor, our tempers, but mostly we connected on social media over our political affilliations. Paul, I will miss your input on this current state of affairs. I wish I’d had more time with you to get to know you as an adult.
DeeAnn Sutter says
It is part of family lore that when Paul was very small he stepped out of Grandma Breitbach’s car onto the head of a rattle snake. Grandma had to run back to the house to get a hoe to kill it and Little Paul had to stand on that snake as it wrapped itself completely up his thigh…Paul HATED snakes! On one late night trip to the lake I was riding in the ‘open the gates’ seat and jumped out to do my duty. As soon as the door slammed, a rattler went off close to me! Paul took care of the snake and most of the gate post with his 36 before he was satisfied the world was safe! Will never forget all those awesome fishing and boating trips!
Amanda Breitbach says
Dad was a good teacher, surprisingly patient and calm. On a few occasions when he was teaching me to drive, he had to reach over and grab the steering wheel to correct my trajectory when I was drifting too far to the side of the road. Both times he did so calmly and carefully, without scaring me or causing problems. I can’t think of many other people who would have reacted so well.
I will always remember when he taught me to ski downhill. I was in college by then, but I had never been skiing. The first time I fell down, he skied over to help me get back up. Looking it over, he commented that I was going to fall a lot, and it would just make me tired to have to struggle back up each time. Instead, he told me to just stay where I fell, and he would pick me up. Then he picked me up like a child and stood me back on my skis. He did that all day, each time offering encouragement and praise for what I had done well, along with tips to avoid whatever had caused me to fall.
I have a million memories of Dad, but thought I would share these for those who never interacted with him that way.
Jennifer Breitbach says
To this day, Jon Paul does that for all the beginners he takes skiing. Same philosophy