Harold Busko

Harold Busko, 91, of Great Falls, passed away Monday, December 16, 2013 surrounded by his loving family. His untimely death was a result of a fall sustained on Dec. 10, 2013.A funeral liturgy will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 23, 2013 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Schnider Funeral Home is handling arrangements.Harold or Grandpa to all who knew him was the oldest of 8 children and born on September 3, 1922 to Alois and Olga Busko in Maine, Wisconsin. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1942 and was honorably discharged in 1947 after serving in Europe.Harold married the love of his life, Lorraine Masanz on June 8, 1946 in Milwaukee, WI. His final duty assignment with the Air Force brought the two to Great Falls and both agreed Montana was to be their new home. Harold worked for Hansen Dairy for over 30 years and could still remember many of his old milk customers and where they lived. He and Lorraine began their venture into becoming business owners in 1961, when they purchased Cater-Matic Vending and began working together running and serving their vending machines until Lorraines death in May 1985.Retirement was never really a word in Harolds vocabulary. Up until the day of his unfortunate fall, he went to the business every day of the week to help out. His greatest adventure in the last year of his life was being selected to participate in Montanas Big Sky Honor Flight. Americas Greatest Generation traveled to Washington, D.C. to experience the memorials erected in their honor. What a wonderful tribute to those who served in World War II he would say.Harold was very proud of his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America serving first at the Troop level and then at the district level on the camping committee as Doris the cook for many years. His greatest enjoyment came from his PACE exercise class at the PEAK. He was a long time member and rarely did he miss his 3 days a week class. He was previously married to Bea Doyle and later divorced.Harold is survived by his three children, Virginia (Loren) Gewald, Barbara Schlecht, and Ken (Linda) Busko all of Great Falls; grandchildren Sonny Schlecht of Missoula, Niki Sinclair of New York, Dani Busko of New York, Dustin Schlecht of S. Korea, Brandon (Erica) Schlecht of Helena, Tanner Schlecht and Sammie Busko; sisters Dorothy (Fred) Lang and Eileen Mink of Wisconsin; great-grandchildren Trace and Hunter Tallant, Lilly Busko, and Zoe and Eva Schlecht.He was preceded in death by his parents; sister Maxine Schneeweis; brother Edward, Arnold, Henry, Alvin and Hank Busko.Memorials are suggested to Montana Big Sky Honor Flight, PO Box 80201, Billings, MT 59108 or bigskyhonorflight.org.