Elmer Sprunger

Elmer Sprunger, 87, died Aug. 22, 2007, at Kalispell Regional Medical Center after a six-month illness with lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

He was born Sept. 23, 1919, in Kalispell to Jerry and Mary Sprunger.

Elmer always referred to his childhood as "growing up in the cedar jungle on the shady side of Swan Lake" in and among the area's abundant wildlife that would shape his perception of the world in which he lived.

Elmer got his formal education in schools in Swan Lake and Bigfork, with one year at Butte High School in the middle, followed by graduation from Bigfork High in 1938.

He told the story that his parents didn't want him to marry until he was at least 21, so he waited one day after his 21st birthday to marry Marie Svejkovsky on Sept. 24, 1940.

The young couple moved to Seattle in 1942, where Elmer worked in the shipyard, drafting and doing layout on steel during World War II. It was at this period that Elmer began drawing his amazing cartoons, already filled with his singular commentary on politics and life. They later moved to Bremerton, Wash., where Elmer worked as a carpenter and logger.

Then in 1950, Elmer and Marie moved back to Swan Lake where he took a job as caretaker of one of the Copper King's estates. They moved to Bigfork in 1953, where Elmer lived the remainder of his life.

In 1956, Elmer took a job at the Anaconda Aluminum Co. in Columbia Falls, where he worked until 1971 as a painter and sign-painter.

Elmer left the plant to devote himself full-time to his artistic career. He continued to sell paintings in galleries and on commission. He always managed to find the time to draw his cartoons, choosing politicians, dignitaries, the human condition, and especially logging of public lands, as his favorite targets. Some of his cartoons were reprinted in national conservation publications. His cartoons ran prominently in the Bigfork Eagle for 24 years.

His work hangs in the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma and the Safari Club in Las Vegas. Elmer especially liked to paint wild birds, elk and bear. Examples of his work hang in galleries, public buildings and prominent homes throughout the West.

The Sprunger-Whitney Trail in the Swan Valley was named and established in 1995 after him and long-time friend Jack Whitney on behalf of their conservation efforts and vision to preserve this diverse forest. The trail was built and is maintained by Friends of the Wild Swan.

His last completed painting, of a whitetail buck standing regally by the shore of the Swan River, was painted at the same place Charlie Russell chose to make his last painting.

Elmer was preceded in death by his wife Marie in 1993, and their daughter Joyce in 1965.

He is survived by daughter Nancy Beardsley and husband Don, of Missoula; son Jerry Sprunger, of Bigfork; granddaughter Dawn Jackson, of Whitefish; grandson Tim Rahrer and wife Sandy Carson, of Ottawa, Ont.; great grandsons Cory Jackson and Brandon Jackson, of Whitefish; and great granddaughter Coral Carson, of Ontario.

Memorial service took place Aug. 30, 2007, at the United Methodist Church in Bigfork.

The family suggests donations in lieu of flowers to help defray his medical costs.