Rodney Thomas McCabe, age 69, of Glendive, passed away on Sunday, February 21, 2016 at his home in Glendive after a long battle with Emphysema.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, February 29, 2016 at the First Congregational Church in Medicine Lake, Mont. with Pastor Tim Hutslar officiating. A private family interment will be in the Homestead Cemetery in Homestead, Mont. Silha Funeral home of Glendive has been entrusted with the arrangements.
Rodney was born to Tom and Hope (Brodsho) McCabe on March 2, 1946. He was raised on the family farm near Homestead. He attended school at Medicine Lake where he was active in football, basketball and track. He was especially proud of his track accomplishments and loved to relive the glory days with everyone that would listen. Rodney graduated from Medicine Lake high school with the class of 1964. After graduation, he enlisted in the Montana National Guard and also attended Montana State University for a short time before returning home to the farm to work with his parents and brothers. He took great pride in helping his father and brothers build and expand the farming operation. In 1973, he married Sharon Granning, and to that union they had two children, Todd on September 18, 1975 and Misty on December 18, 1976. Later it ended in divorce in 1983.
In 1983, Rodney quit farming and started his life on the road, driving truck and custom harvesting. Truck driving took Rodney all across the country, until 2002 when he came home to Eastern Montana. He spent the rest of his life helping his son, Todd, build his own operation, as his heart was always in a wheat field.
As his parents aged he moved to Glendive. Following his father’s passing in 2005, Rodney took great pride in driving “Miss Daisy” and taking over the breakfast duties and going to coffee with Hope, which he thoroughly enjoyed as he was known for his “gift of gab”.
Rodney enjoyed helping Todd with the farming and helping his brothers whenever he was needed. He became affectionately known as the “Old Man” by Todd and his crew. He was the master grain cart driver and parts runner. As the boys would say, “he was better than the UPS man.” Rod always had food, pop and beer in his pickup for the boys in the field and cucumbers and sweet corn for Todd’s wife, Kara.
Rod enjoyed sports, especially NFL Football and the Broncos. He had the opportunity to take a trip to Denver with Todd, Mitch and Nate to watch his Broncos beat the Raiders. He never missed an opportunity to bet with his grandson Nate and seemed to always pay up no matter the result of the game. His greatest joys in his life were his grandchildren whom he adored and loved to spoil anytime he had a chance. Rod’s greatest joys later in life was just sitting in his pickup and driving around checking the crops, smoking cigarettes and BS’ing with the neighbors or anyone who had the time to visit. He never passed a used car, machinery dealership, auction sale or a for sale sign without looking for the next “good deal”.
Dad will always be remembered for his almost daily phone calls to his kids saying, “Just checking up on ya.”
He is preceded in death by his parents, Tom and Hope McCabe; niece, Deanna McCabe; and nephew, Landon McCabe.
Left here to miss him are his two children, Todd (Kara) McCabe and Misty (Mitchell) Overby; the six highlights of his life, Paige, April, Autumn and Conn McCabe and Aislinn and Nate Overby; four brothers, Dean (Jan), Paul (Janet), Jim (Rebbeca) and Brad (Ronnette); nieces, Kathy McCabe, Jenny Garroute and Megan Winfrey; and nephews, Ben Keysor, Brian, Mike, Mark, Matt and Alex McCabe.
Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at: www.silhafuneralhomes.com.