Atwood Franklin “Frank” Hape, 98, died peacefully on November 7, 2026. He was born on April 27, 1928, on a farm in central Pennsylvania.
Frank’s mother died when he was 14 years old. After that, he left home, lied about his age and entered the Merchant Marines at the end of World War II. After the war, he moved out west and started a career with the National Park Service in Yellowstone.
He worked summers in Yellowstone and winters at Lake Powell, AZ, and Death Valley, CA. He was drafted into the Army in 1951 and served in the Korean War. The Army taught him how to operate heavy equipment. Frank was injured in Korea and spent several months in military hospitals. After his recovery, he returned to the National Park Service where he enjoyed a 35-year career as a heavy equipment operator in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
In the winters, he kept the road open between Gardiner and Cooke City. He also groomed the interior park roads for snowmobilers and snow coaches. In the summer, he did whatever was necessary to keep the park open, including clearing rock slides, repairing roads, building and then tearing down elk traps and numerous other projects. Frank was especially proud of his work on the “snow crew” that moved massive amounts of snow to open the Yellowstone roads every Spring. Once the Yellowstone roads were plowed, he and his crew would plow the Wyoming side of the Beartooth pass.
He volunteered his time to build the football field and track at the Gardiner school. He also built the playground, tennis courts, and skating rink in Mammoth. He retired from the Park Service in 1984 and moved to Bozeman.
Frank met his first wife, Jean, while working in Yellowstone. They had a son, John, and a daughter, Donna. That marriage didn’t work out. He then met Darlene Sadler of Sheridan, WY, who would come to Yellowstone with her mother, who cooked in the park service mess hall at Yellowstone Lake. They were married in 1957. They had three kids together: Robin, Scott, and Teresa.
Frank was always a farmer at heart. He loved having large gardens. He continued to work in his garden until about a year ago, keeping his family and neighbors well supplied with fresh vegetables. He also enjoyed hunting, fishing, boating and snowmobiling. He especially enjoyed pheasant hunting with his son and working with the dogs. Frank was tough, stubborn, hardworking, and independent. After all, he survived two wars, a gunshot wound, and driving a road grader over a cliff in Yellowstone. He lived in his home near Bozeman until two weeks before his death.
He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Bill Hape. He is survived by his wife, Darlene; son, Robin (Molly), and son, Scott (Donna), all of Bozeman, MT; daughter, Teresa (Eric) of Seattle, WA; son, John (Diane), and daughter, Donna, of Arizona; brother, Bob, of Post Falls, ID; sister, Arlene, of Fort Meyers, FL; as well as his ten grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
Frank will be laid to rest with Military Honors during a private family ceremony at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com [dokkennelson.com]
