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- Cadet P. "Frenchy" Lacunza
Cadet Pierre "Frenchy" Lacunza, 84, of Black Eagle, died of cancer Monday at a local hospital.
Vigil service is 7 p.m. Thursday at Croxford Funeral Home. Funeral service is 11 a.m. Friday at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Black Eagle, with burial following in Highland Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Kathleen Ann Lacunza of Black Eagle; children Terry Gene Lacunza and Maurice Lacunza, both of Tacoma, Wash., and Elisa Marie (Lacunza) Friedrich of Missoula; sisters Jeanne Sagasta, of Ontario, Ore., Leonie Seoane of Argentina, and Micheline Lekumberry, Monique Arhancet and Isabelle Laco, all of France; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Frenchy was born in Mendive, France, along with sisters from his father, Evariste Lacunza, and mother, Marie Lacunza, who along with two sisters and a brother preceded him in death. He also is preceded in death by a son, Pierre Lacunza, in 1973.
Leaving the Basque homeland in the heart of the Pyrenees Mountains, Cadet immigrated to America in 1953. Though he was proficient in four languages, he studied and learned the English language in a shepherd's wagon while herding sheep in Glasgow, Mont., just across the border from North Dakota.
He married Kathleen in Glasgow on Nov. 13, 1955.
Prior to coming to America, he served in the French Under-ground as a teenager fighting Nazism during WWII. As a young man, he served with the French Army in the Vietnam War from 1950 to 1952. It was there that he gained his skills in telephonic communications. During the war, he contracted malaria and was given six months to live. He survived malaria with medication and, most importantly, by moving to a cooler climate in North America. After the war, he spent time in Indochina, now called Vietnam, where he learned to operate and manage oil refineries.
Sadly, Cadet suffered the loss of one of his twin sons, Pierre, who met his fate when he was only 15 years old by falling off a farm truck in 1973. One thing Pierre was able to do before he died was spend time in the moun-tains during summer months and the hunting season. Cadet would take the family on camping trips and mountain excursions throughout their lives. He knew his way around the extreme mountains of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, where he established a permanent hunting site and often would take hunting excursions for weeks at a time. He left an amazing legacy: a love for the mountains and rivers of Montana. He imparted a love for the mountains and a sense of duty to care for and protect the wilderness.
This past year, as he grew in age, Cadet found it a little bit harder to farm and a little bit harder to keep up the maintenance and care of such an enterprise. He also did not realize that he had an undiagnosed cancer. It was only two weeks ago that he went to a doctor after falling off his tractor. It was only a week ago that he was given a terminal diagnosis and everybody thought he had a little bit of time left. However, he did not. He was probably aware of his mortality because he made his peace with his family and friends. He died the morning of July 5, 2010, with his family at his side. He told his sons that he loved them and he felt that he had no regrets, and that he could leave this place with love all around him.
Condolences may be posted online at www.croxfordfuneralhome.com and/or www.gftribune.com/obituaries.
Published in Great Falls Tribune on July 7, 2010
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1925 - 2010 (84 years)
