Joaquin “Jack” Rivera arrived in Bozeman in March of 2003 with a tool belt, a beat-up Subaru, and a plan to stay six months. He was still here twenty-three years later, which he attributed to the fishing and which everyone else attributed to the deck he built on Peach Street that started it all.

He bought the little yellow house on West Babcock in 2006 for what he called “a normal amount of money” and what the assessor now calls “significant appreciation.” He brought it up at every potluck, usually while grilling carne asada on the very deck that started the conversation. The house backed to a ditch that ran clear in June; he taught three generations of neighborhood kids to catch crawdads there.

Jack framed half the additions on the north side, repaired the porch at the Co-op twice, and built the wheelchair ramp at the library without being asked. He measured lumber by eye and people by whether they showed up. He voted in every municipal election, always wrote in his neighbor’s name for mayor as a joke, and meant it more each time.

His knees gave out before his humor did. He spent his last summer on the front porch in a camp chair, waving at the construction crews replacing the hay fields at Four Corners, narrating the skyline’s retreat toward the M.

He is survived by his wife Elena, who still makes the horchata; daughter Marisol in Belgrade, who drives the pass daily; and son Carlos in Missoula, who calls every Sunday. A celebration of life will be held at Dahl Funeral & Cremation Service on Saturday, August 23 at 2:00 PM.