The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

On January 7, 2018 our cousin Edmund Jesse Giebel passed away, and on January 12, 2018, his older brother Ray Eugene Giebel also passed away. They did not want traditional obituaries, so we’re writing a brief rememberance for The Mountaineer record and so their many classmates and friends will know they have left us behind.

Ray was a 1950 BSHS graduate, a fine musician (sax and piano), an outstanding chemist who worked for many years at the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado. He and his brother Ed were avid sportsmen. Ray and wife Carmie had four children, Michael, Mark, Lori, and Louise.

Gifts in memory of Ray can be made to the Musselshell Valley Community Foundation, Arvade United Methodist Church, People for the American Way, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Planned Parenthood, or Population Connection. Condolences may be expressed at wierfuneralhome.com

Ed Jesse, a 1953 BSHS graduate, was a school athlete and played trumpet in the school band. As a child, Ed had a prodigious memory for the words of complicated popular songs. One summer during a backyard circus, he sang a stirring rendition of “Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit , your ears are mighty long.” He worked for the BLM for many years. He and wife Ruth were among the Montana Snowbirds who wintered in Arizona with friends such as Zane Haakensen and Dick Hurd.

The Giebel family arrived in Big Sandy, on Armistice Day, 1918. The boys’ father Ray worked for the city for many years and the mother Lulu Riddle Giebel taught piano to generations of musically talented Big Sandy children. Ray Eugene and Ed Jess will long be remembered in the memories of their many relatives and friends.