A vacation trip to Glacier National Park ended in tragedy for a Missouri couple when a large rock fell through their Jeep, killing a 73-year-old great-grandfather.
Rex Schowengerdt was traveling with his wife of 50 years, Chris, on July 11 when a 45-pound rock crashed through the roof of their Jeep. Schowengerdt, a father of two and grandfather of five, was struck in the head by the rock, sustaining what his family described as a “catastrophic” brain injury. He died five days later in the hospital.
According to their daughter, Amy Prince, the rock was not exceptionally large, but the incident was a “freak, horrible thing” with nothing that could have prevented it.
Schowengerdt, a retired man from Kansas City, Missouri, had been excited to visit Glacier National Park, a place he had visited only once before. The couple had driven more than 1,300 miles for the vacation. Schowengerdt was sitting in the back of the Jeep next to his wife when the rock fell.
"Mom said when she looked over, dad had a smile on his face," Prince told the Flathead Beacon, referring to her father's happiness on their trip. "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."
The rock crushed Schowengerdt’s skull and impacted his brain stem. He was airlifted to a hospital and placed in intensive care, where he passed away. His daughter revealed that he was scheduled for organ donation surgery the day he died, and his eyes and tissues were successfully donated, saving the vision of two people.
Schowengerdt was cremated due to the high cost of transporting his body back to Missouri. A celebration of his life was scheduled for Friday.
This incident marks the first fatality on the Going-to-the-Sun road since 2019, when a 14-year-old girl died after rocks shattered the rear windshield and top of her vehicle.