Eddie Batchelder – Founder of Eddie’s Club
I had the privilege of working with Eddie Batchelder for a time at the U.S. Post Office in Missoula. He was a character. You could generally count on him smiling or laughing almost all of the time. He had a limp by the time I knew him, which could probably be attributed to his rodeo days. He was the one and only (old-time) bull rider I have ever known. As the obituary below says, he participated in rodeos all over the country. He would sometimes say funny things. He called doughnuts Oklahoma T-Bones. One statement he made I’ll never forget was about growing up in southern Montana. As a youngster, upon getting his first nickel, he gave it a toss, saying he’d never get to town to spend it anyway.
The obituary below appeared in the Ravalli Republic July 5, 2004.
Edwin “Eddie” Batchelder
Edwin “Eddie” Batchelder, 90, of Missoula was born in Tripp, S.D., on Jan. 8th, 1914, and passed away June 29, 2004, at Fort Harrison of pneumonia.
His parents were Lesly Batchelder and Rosa Roth Batchelder. He would have been born in Montana but they wouldn’t allow his mother on the train as she was too close to delivery so Lesly took the older children to Bozeman and Rosa followed shortly after with Eddie. He was raised in the Livingston/Bozeman area.
At the age of 13 he left home and began a long and varied work history. He worked on a tuna boat in Alaska, cooked at the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco and tended bar in Alturas, Calif., and many other places. He was working in the shipyards in Tacoma, Wash., when World War II erupted. He joined the Army on Jan. 31, 1944 and was honorably discharged on Dec. 21, 1944.
He returned to the shipyards for about a year before returning to Montana and working for Bob Goss of Rocky Mountain Amusement in Hamilton. In 1951 Bob and Eddie bought the Elkhorn Cigar Store in Missoula. He bought out his partner and ran the Elkhorn until its sale in 1959.
Shortly after, he repossessed his license and started Eddie’s Club, which is now Charlie B’s. He spent several years riding saddle broncs and bulls in P.R.C.A. sanctioned events and was very proud of having participated in both events in Madison Square Garden in 1950. He was a member of Hamilton Elks #1651 and Missoula Eagles #32. He really enjoyed his hunting, fishing, golf and bowling activities. On a trip to Great Falls for a bowling tournament he and his teammates took along their golf clubs for a round of golf. While there he had one of his proudest moments when he hit a “hole in one.”
Although Eddie retired several times he always got bored and was back to work doing something before too long. In 1969 he went to work at the post office sorting mail and got a second job as a janitor at the federal building. He actually got time off from these two jobs to go and cook for the forest fire crews a couple of years. After retiring again, he was a janitor at the U of M, he owned a service station on West Broadway for a while and later owned the bar in Roy for three years. In 1979, at the age of 65, he began working as an Ironworker and his last job, which was while he was in his 80s, was as a janitor at the VFW Club.
In 1951 he married Astrid Wahl of Missoula and they enjoyed more than 50 years together. They have one son, O’Brien, of Missoula and two daughters. Kelly S. (and partner Larry Steele) of Missoula and Sgt. 1st Class Clancee Collins of Sand Springs. Eddie always enjoyed seeing his one granddaughter, Sonya, of Seattle whenever she came to Montana.
Eddie was preceded in death by his parents; his oldest brother, Rubin, and two sisters, Rose Jones and Frieda Widaman. He is survived by his brothers, Bill Batchelder (Frances) of Belgrade and John Hochmuht (Judy) of Livingston; sister Ida “Connie” Peterson of Washington state and numerous nieces and nephews.
No services are planned at this time and in lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Missoula Manor Homes’ Endowment Fund.
Ronald Brothers of Dowling Funeral Home and Crematory, 415 S. Second St. in Hamilton, is assisting the family.