Virgil Rinke, 71

Virgil A. Rinke, age 71, of Ronan, passed away at his home in Round Butte on Dec. 7, 2024.

Virgil was born in Polson on Dec. 25, 1952, to Dorothy and Hubert Rinke. He attended grade school at the Round Butte Schoolhouse through 8th grade, and then went into town and graduated from Ronan High School in 1971.

After high school, Virgil went to work as a roughneck in the oil fields of Wyoming. He then went on to work in Alaska for Nabors Oil Company and spent 31 years working for Doyon Drilling on the North Slope. 

Virgil and Barb were married in Hot Springs on Aug. 22, 1980. He without hesitation adopted Billie Jo and 11 years later they adopted a baby boy and named him Matthew. He enjoyed the time he spent with his kids being a dad. 

While working in the oil fields he managed and helped Barb run the family ranch. He always managed to keep Barb working on the “10-Year Plan” to come home to help run the ranch.  

Virgil spent countless hours volunteering as a hunter safety instructor with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. He was honored with many plaques, the most recent in 2017 for 25 years of service helping young hunters learn how to shoot and properly handle a firearm.  He wasn’t just a hunting instructor he was a mentor to many and loved by all. 

Virgil was an active member of the Hot Springs Masonic Lodge #153, Kalispell Lodge #42, and Kathryn C. Johnson Chapter #132 Order of the Eastern Star, and a member of the Algerian Shrine Temple. He spent countless hours and years raising money for children in the valley to attend the Western Montana Shrine Circus in Missoula.  

Virgil was an adventurous outdoorsman who spent many seasons hunting with friends and family in the Bob Marshall Wilderness as well as guiding hunters. He appreciated telling a good hunting story of the one that did or didn’t get away.  

He lived a life of making memories with friends and family, never passing up an opportunity to make people laugh and smile with his own unique, and coarse but direct, sense of humor. He always put others' needs above his own by helping people with anything they needed. 

He has been described as the salt of the earth, the man you want to have your back in the oil fields, and for sure the one to have next to you if you happened to get yourself into a bar fight.  

Virgil will be remembered for his quick wit, ability to laugh and make people laugh, and mostly for the love of family and friends. 

Virgil was preceded in death by his father, Hubert Rinke, and his brother, Marty Rinke. He is survived by his mom, Dorothy Rinke; his wife, Barb Rinke; his children, Billie Jo (Paul) Bianchetti, and Matthew Rinke; grandchildren Ben Rinke and Cameron Brown (Madison Clairmont), and great-granddaughter Blaine River Brown. 

Services will be held on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Faith Lutheran Church in Ronan.  The family has asked in lieu of flowers for donations in Virgil’s honor to be made to the following: Lake County Hunter Education Program c/o Tom Fieber (406-250-3386) or Shriners Hospital for Children of Spokane. Messages of condolences may be shared with the family online at shriderthompson.com.

Arrangements are under the care of Shrider-Thompson Funeral Home.