Archives West Finding Aid

Reginald Lewis John Tucker-better known as "R.J.," "Reg," or "Red" during his adult life-was born in Totnes, Devonshire, England on May 30, 1906. Tucker describes immigrating to the United States in 1912 with his family, narrowly avoiding a journey aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic, and settling in Bound Brook, New Jersey, where his father worked as a farmhand. After his father received an injury by a team of runaway horses, Tucker and his family moved back to Europe in 1915. Tucker and his family benefitted on the return trip from being rejected passage aboard another hapless ship amidst increasing international tension: the RMS Lusitania.

Tucker and his family remained in their native England for five years before his father's cousin, who lived in Missoula, came to visit the family in the "Old Country" in 1920. Impressed by life in the United States in their prior experience and further wooed by his cousin's discussion of the Homestead Act, Tucker's father decided to move back to the United States. R.J. went with his father, eventually making their way to Sula, Montana, in Ross' Hole. R.J.'s mother and sister stayed behind in England while his mother worked as a dressmaker until they eventually made their way to Montana five years later in 1925. Greatly interested in automobiles at a young age, R.J. enrolled in the National Automotive School in Los Angeles, California in 1925. Upon graduation from the National Automotive School in 1926, R.J. moved back to Montana where he met Eva Olsen, whom he married in 1928. In 1930, after a couple years of marriage, R.J. opened his own mechanic shop in Missoula, Red's Repair Shop, which also served as a local Chrysler dealership from 1941 to 1953, when he sold his automobile business and mechanic shop.

R.J. remained active in the community after selling his business, serving as a representative for Inventors Diversified Services from 1955 until becoming the divisional manager in 1961. Tucker left this position in 1964 to join the staff of First National Bank as a public relations and loan officer until finally retiring in 1975 as the assistant vice president of the bank. R.J. was also a lifetime member of the Community Medical Center board of directors and a member of the Lions Club for 50 years. Upon retiring from the First National Bank in 1975, R.J. and Eva lived at their home on Flathead Lake where they enjoyed hunting, fishing, and boating, until moving back to Missoula in 1986. R.J. Tucker died in Missoula on January 22, 1998 at the age of 91.