Ronald "Ron" William Shrider

Ronald “Ron” William Shrider, age 78, passed away on Thursday afternoon, June 25, 2026, peacefully at his home after a courageous battle with cancer. He is now at rest with his Savior in Heaven. He was born on February 24, 1948, in St. Ignatius, MT, the son of the late Kathryn (McDonell) Shrider and William Shrider. A devoted husband, father, brother, and friend, he will be greatly missed. 

Ron grew up in Ronan, MT, the fourth eldest of eight children. In his early years, he served as an altar boy for Sacred Heart Parish and later had a paper route. He had many stories of dogs chasing him when he was delivering the local paper. In high school, he worked at Community bank and Sterling's grocery. Upon graduating from high school, he attended Carroll College in Helena, MT, then the University of Montana in Missoula before attending Mortuary School in San Francisco, CA. During his summers in college, he worked for the Forest Service as a firefighter near Glacier National Park.

After graduating from mortuary school, he followed in his fathers footsteps and took over the family business of Shrider’s Mortuary in Ronan as a funeral director and mortician. In later years, he went on to purchase the Mosley Funeral Home in Polson to expand his business. He served on the cemetery board for many years and eventually went on to run the Ronan cemetery as a sextant in his retirement years. He loved being outside in nature and operating heavy equipment. Plus, he already knew everyone there from his time as a mortician. Over the 50 years that he was in the funeral industry, he helped countless families and served his community with his compassionate, gentle and respectful approach. He was often asked about his relationship to the family at funerals because people assumed he was a relative, having attended so many of their family funerals.

Throughout his life, if you knew Ron, you knew he was always a helping hand and had a servant heart. He stopped by his parents house everyday to visit and check-in on them. He always had a black lab by his side. His hobbies included hunting with his father, fishing with his brother, Rob, and restoring cars with his friend, Ed Loder, to name a few. His love of cars led him to accomplish his dream of owning the legendary DeLorean, as well as a 1956 Bel Air, and later a 1969 Camaro. Ron loved a good steak, in his opinion it was better than cake. After finishing his meal, he would ask if the others at the table were going to finish eating their food because he was often still hungry. Ron enjoyed hearing and telling a great story, sometimes he would get chuckling so hard he could hardly talk. One of Ron's favorite memories he had was fishing in the Baja for his 50th birthday, he continued to talk about that trip for years to come.

In 1998, he finally married the love of his life, Marje, at the age of 50 and welcomed their daughter, Aurelia, a year later who he always wanted. Ron spent many years of his life building his business, buying land and rental properties. He loved living on Flathead Lake with his family and haying on his farmland with his tractor.

Ron is survived by his wife of 28 years, Marjorie (Maas) Shrider; his only daughter, Aurelia (Shrider) Schoening and his son-in-law, Liam Schoening, who was the son he never had. He was preceded in death by his parents and his elder sisters, Mary Clanton and Billie Kay Findly.

A funeral mass will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Polson, MT, with Fr. Kevin Christofferson. A burial will follow at the Ronan Cemetery and then a luncheon reception in Ronan at Sacred Heart Catholic Church Parish Hall.