Jed Stuart Hooper was born in Bozeman Montana on May 22, 1968. He passed away unexpectedly and joined his Lord and Savior on November 27, 2024. He left this world quietly, but mostly lived his life Loud and Proud.
He was only 56 years of age but packed many of life’s ups and downs into those 56 years. He spent his early childhood on Manley Road, which at the time was in the country.
The neighborhood kids were all friends and spent their time doing what country kids did, riding bikes, catching frogs, snakes, and other things to get into mischief. He attended Hawthorne, CJMS, and Bozeman High. He also lived with his paternal grandparents and went to school in Big Timber for one year and attended Big Timber High School but returned to Bozeman, graduating from Bozeman H.S. in 1988.
As a youth Jed learned to ski and loved to ski with his mother, stepfather, and friends at Bridger Bowl and Big Sky. As a teenager he hunted and fished with his father, John Hooper, and that is when he acquired his life-long love for hunting and fishing. As a young adult Jed traveled to manyplaces in the states and during that time acquired his love for cooking. He attended a chef's school in Billings and then traveled some more. He eventually went to Alaska to cook and fish. He cooked on fishing boats, processing ships, and even tried his luck cooking on a Tugboat on the Mississippi River. He ended up back in Washington and Alaska mostly on commercial fishing boats wherever the current seasons took them. He even spent time on a crab boat in the Bering Sea. He met, lived with, and worked with many people in the northwest that he still communicated with.
In 2011 Jed's father was diagnosed with cancer and Jed met him in Seattle and for the next 2 years became his caregiver following him to Bozeman, Texas, and back to Bozeman before he passed away in 2013. After his father’s death, Jed remained in Bozeman to be near his mother and stepfather. He lived out in the Amsterdam/Churchill area and became a part of that community. For the last 11 years Jed worked various jobs in and around the Gallatin Valley. Most of that time he worked for Bronken's Distributing where he made new friends including his two best friends, Ryan School and Rob Payne. Jed was welcomed into the Dutch Community by his new neighbors who became like family to him. The Veltkamp family became a very influential part of his later life. Jed had a large home which became a gathering place for friends and family. He loved to cook and was very good at it. He also rented his extra bedrooms to co-workers and/or friends over the last 10 years. He was especially fond of his current roommates, Chris and Hannah Dykman, and their young son, Reverence.
Jed was preceded in death by his father, John Hooper; paternal and maternal grandparents; and his aunt Renee' Slaughter.
Jed is survived by his mother, Jolee Scheidecker; stepfather, Gary Scheidecker; his uncle, Bill Slaughter; cousin, Jesse Slaughter (Christie) and their children; aunt and uncle, Janie and Chuck Karnop, their daughter, JoAnne; and his many friends.
In memory of Jed go to your favorite fishing spot, wet a line, drink a beer (but not a Lite Beer), or donate to the Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter in honor of Jed and his faithful companion "Ruger."
"GONE FISHING"
A service to honor Jed’s life will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Friday, Dec. 13th at Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com [dokkennelson.com]
