Joseph Piche was born in Quebec and came to Montana during the mining rush. He worked in Butte and married Louise DeRosia who was born in the state of New York. After the marriage they ran a dairy outside of Butte. As their son Louis remembers the story: “There were twenty-one homestead lots to be drawn southeast of Drummond. One-hundred and fifty miners lined up in Butte for the drawing and his father drew lot number twenty-one. Their 160 acre homestead was located six miles southeast of Drummond. The property was two miles east of the Valley View cemetery. They were lucky enough to get an area that had water on the land.” Research revealed an article in the September 27, 1929 Mail that stated “Joseph Piche returned to Drummond Wednesday from the Gallatin valley where he had spent the last two months.”
According to Louis (at age 99) the children born to Joseph and Louise were: Irene on March 9 (the year not recalled); she married a man named Pease and died at the age of 92; Gertrude was born on November 29 (unable to recall the year) and married a man named Udall. The marriage lasted one year because he did not work; Vivian was born on November 28, 1908. She married a man named Duell and died just short of her 100th birthday in 2008. Louis was born September 11, 1910; Ray Piche, the youngest and fifth, born on August 8, 1917 at the homestead east of New Chicago, received his education in Drummond and attended Modern Business College in Missoula.
He enlisted in the Army and served 42 months in WWII. While serving in the Eastern Theater, Ray earned a Purple Heart. Ray, operated a Drummond service station for ten years; bought the Texaco station and ran it for twelve years; the liquor store for another twelve years .Ray married Audrey Hamilton in August of 1951 and she died in 2002. Ray died in Missoula on April 13, 2005. He was survived by brother Louis and sister Vivian Duell, both of Missoula and nieces and nephews. Military Honors were conducted at Valley View cemetery.
Their mother, Louise DeRosia was born March 9, 1876 at Governor, New York. She moved to Butte, Montana in 1897 and married Joseph on May 10, 1898. Her obituary stated they moved to Drummond in 1909. Joseph died in 1946 and in 1965, Louise moved to Missoula to live with her daughter Vivian Woods and died June 28, 1967. Survivors were: daughters: Vivian, Mrs. Irene Pease of Missoula and Mrs. Gertrude Dodge of Polson; sons: Louis and Ray of Drummond. Internment was in the family plot at St. Mary’s cemetery in Missoula.
Louis, was educated in Drummond. Then, after attending a barber school in Spokane, Louis bought Jack Peterson’s Barber shop at Drummond, in 1928. He ran the barber shop until drafted into WWII in 1942 at the age of 31. While in the military he served in the 48th Sea Bees and was in Korea. Louis was home on leave when Hiroshima was bombed in August; reported to California and was discharged on September 28, 1945. Louis sold real estate and insurance and in 1960 he worked with the county tax assessor Roy Greenheck and learned reclassification, which was a measurement of land productivity. About that same time Louis built the Big Sky Motel and operated it for six years, then sold the motel to Fred Holland.
Louis married Edna Marsh on May 19, 1930. After retirement they lived in Apache Wells, Arizona and Big Timber, Montana. Louis moved to Missoula, after Edna died in 1967. He was a 30 year member of the Kiwanis, a member of the Elks and an avid bowler.
Louis was anxiously awaiting his 100th birthday in September when I talked with him in May of 2010. Unfortunately he died in Missoula on July 23, 2010. Louis was buried in the Missoula cemetery.
In July of 2011 the Drummond Library received notice that the estate of Louis Piche had provided them a wonderful gift. The Library set up a September Night on September 13, 2011 to focus on Louis’ life and generosity. Louis had been a great friend of the library and realized the struggles they had. The funds were expected to be set up as an endowment and would only be used for extras, never for the general funding. The sum was expected to be about $25,000 a year for the next 25 years totaling about $625,000.
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