Vern Opp, North Dakota Native, Successful Business Owner, Avid Outdoorsman, Dies at 86

Vern Opp was born in 1933 at home near the small town of Zap, ND.  As a teenager learned to fly a plane so he and his brother Wilbert could deliver groceries and medicine to people in rural areas when winter roads were impassable. This can-do spirit characterized Vern's whole life: taking on new challenges and realizing successful results, all the while building friendships and supporting his community. He was a builder, barber, hardware store owner, golfer, fisherman, hunter, skier, gardener, wine maker, and all around good guy. Vern died on August 17, 2020 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland, OR, from pneumonia as a complication of COVID-19.

Vern was born on August 23, 1933 to Martha (Luithle) and Gottlieb Opp at their family home near Zap, ND.  He was raised on a ranch near Hebron, ND, where he rode his horse to a one-room schoolhouse until he attended high school in Hebron, graduating in 1951.  After high school, he stayed home to help his father with the ranch for the next five years.  It was during that time he and his brother delivered groceries and medicine by plane.

In 1956-57 Vern attended Molar Barber College in Fargo, ND, waiting tables for meals and a little tip money to help make ends meet.  With his newly earned barber certificate, he moved to Anaconda, MT, to work as a barber.  Montana was an outdoorsman's dream and he quickly became an avid hunter, fisherman, and skier. In 1958 he purchased the Turf Barbershop on Main Street in Anaconda, and the Turf became a thriving business and the hub of politics, gossip, and the place where kids could sign up for hunter safety courses.

On Dec. 6, 1959 Vern married Faith Vitt, who was born and raised in Sidney, MT, and a graduate of the School of Nursing at Montana State University. Their daughter Kimberly was born the following year, and soon after Vern and Faith began working evenings and weekends on building their first house. New town, thriving barbershop, new wife, new baby, and new house all in five short years, but next came a most unwelcome change in their new life as a family. Faith was diagnosed with leukemia and died in 1964, leaving Vern a single parent raising a three-year-old daughter. Ever the devoted father, Vern raised Kim with help from Lois and Bill McKinley. In the years after Faith's death Vern and Kim built a cabin at Georgetown Lake west of Anaconda where they both spent as much time as they could hunting, fishing, boating, and skiing.

Vern served on the Montana State Board of Barbers from 1971 to 1978, traveling across much of the state for inspections.  In 1978 he sold the barber shop and his home in Anaconda and took on his next entrepreneurial challenge. He purchased the Coast to Coast hardware store in Butte (which he later converted to Ace Hardware) and opened a second location in Whitehall.  He operated both stores until he retired 1994.

Vern relished retirement as it provided time for more fishing, including extended trips to Mexico and Canada, and pheasant hunting in Eastern Montana. When he wasn't on the go, he was busy gardening, canning his harvest, and making wine.  Always gregarious, he loved to joke around and have fun. He spent time each summer with his grandsons Bryce and Neil and taught them both to fish and play his favorite card game, pinochle.

In 2016 he moved to the Springs Living retirement community in Butte and later to its location in Portland to be closer to Kim.

Vern is survived by his sister Ester Wetzel, brother Wilbert Opp (Elsie), daughter Kim Johnson (Mike), grandsons, Bryce Johnson (Emily) and Neil Johnson, and great-grandaughter, Elliott Joy Johnson.  Services will be delayed until a later date to reduce COVID-19 pandemic risks.

Contributions in Vern's memory may be made to the Georgetown Lake Volunteer Fire Department, GTLVFD, PO Box 1234, Anaconda, MT  59711 or a charity of your choice.