A Kansas City great-grandfather died beside his wife of 50 years after a large rock crashed through the roof of their Jeep while visiting Glacier National Park.
Rex Schowengerdt, 73, and his wife, Chris, were beginning a months-long trip to several national parks in July, KCTV reports. The retired couple traveled around 1,300 miles from their Missouri home to Montana in their RV, with Glacier National Park as their first stop.
Rex Schowengerdt’s sister and brother-in-law joined them during their visit, which quickly took a tragic turn. On July 11, Schowengerdt’s brother-in-law was driving a hard-top Jeep along a narrow road near Logan Pass when a 45-pound rock broke loose from the steep cliffs and crashed through the vehicle’s roof.
Schowengerdt, a father of two, grandfather of five and great-grandfather of two, was sitting in the backseat with his wife when the rock crushed his skull and pushed bone into his brain stem,
“Because mom was sitting next to dad, dad slumped into my mom. But mom said when she looked over, dad had a smile on his face,” Amy Prince, Schowengerdt’s daughter, told KCTV Thursday, adding that her dad, who loved the outdoors, camping and running, was “so excited” to be at the national park.
open image in gallery“It hurt initially to hear, but it kind of brings peace to me as well in a way because Dad was where he wanted to be and he was happy, and I know even before he left, he was happy,” Prince added.
Schowengerdt was taken by helicopter to a hospital but died five days later, on July 16, from a traumatic brain injury.
“Even after they flew my dad away, they still had to get down the mountain, which meant it took them two and a half hours in the same car that that happened in,” Prince said about the heartbreaking aftermath, adding that the family spent another hour traveling to the hospital to see him.
Prince said her father was in good enough health for doctors to determine that his lungs could be donated. The family hoped to have a traditional funeral and burial, but the high cost of transporting Rex’s body from Montana to Kansas City meant he was ultimately cremated.
open image in galleryThe family is bracing for significant medical expenses, including a potentially costly air ambulance bill. They have set up a GoFundMe to help Chris Schowengerdt cover the costs.
Before leaving for the trip, Schowengerdt shared a message with his daughter that she now hopes to pass on to others.
“He said, ‘Amy, I want you just to remember that when you’re out in nature, don’t take it for granted. Look, really look and really see, and take a second look. And that’s something that he taught even my kids, who are adults now. I think it’s a legacy,’” Prince recalled.