Barney Verwolf, 94, of Stevensville died at Community Medical Center in Missoula on Friday, Sept. 10, 2004, of natural causes.

Barney was born on April 29, 1910, in Manhattan, Mont., to Leonard and Emma (Hammersma) Verwolf. He grew up spending much of his time in the Bridger Mountains. He graduated from High school in Manhattan and worked on the family farm in his younger years. He served in the U. S. Army during WW II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

He served as the gun loader in a tank and lived for a year on the front lines. Barney was awarded the Silver Star for bravery, the Good Conduct Medal and three Bronze Service Stars for taking part in the operations in Normandy, France and Germany.

After being discharged from the Army, Barney returned to the Manhattan area. He later traveled the Northwest following the harvest season, and also worked in a canning factory in Oregon. Eventually he bought 90 acres in the Worden, Wash. area and farmed until his retirement in 1975. He moved to a small acreage in the Bitterroot Valley. In 1996 he moved to the Burnt Fork Manor in Stevensville and in July of this year he moved to Meadowlark Haven in Stevensville.

Barney enjoyed working puzzles, playing card games, gardening, watching sports and game shows on TV and feeding the birds. He also enjoyed fishing and made delicious smoked fish in the tradition of his father before him. He was an inventor, always able to make the tools or whatever else he needed out of his own imagination. He was an easy going and generous person, always willing to help others, and give to charitable organizations.

In recent years, Barney assembled and donated hundreds of wooden dinosaurs and animal puzzles to the Annual International Festival sponsored by the Foreign Students' Association at the University of Montana. His dinosaurs were a hit among children at the annual painting party held at North Valley Library in Stevensville.

Barney was preceded in death by his parents, Leonard and Emma; seven sisters, Dixie Heath, Johanna Colver, Julia Raser, Margaret Campbell, Bertha Metcalf, June Coleman and Frankie Funk and two brothers, George and Guy Verwolf.

He is survived by two sisters, Helen Holderby of Walla Walla, Wash., and Betty Jean Julian of Manhattan; an aunt, Myrtle Verwolf of Corvallis; several cousins, nieces and nephews and his longtime friend, Lu Terry.

A memorial service will be held at the Whitesitt Funeral Home in Stevensville on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004, at 1 p.m. with Pastor Steve Lockrem officiating. Burial will be in Manhattan. VFW Post 1507 will present military honors.

Barney's family wishes to thank William and Linda Macy for their loving care during the last weeks of his life and also Dr. Westphal and the nurses at Community Medical Center for their kindness and care.