GREAT FALLS — A former Montana legislator from Great Falls drowned in a kayaking accident on the Missouri River between Great Falls and Helena, Cascade County officials said.
Cleve Jeffery Loney, 69, died Saturday when his kayak tipped in some rapids, Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said Sunday. Loney’s wife witnessed the accident and called 911.
His body was found by a fisherman near the Pelican Point fishing access site southwest of Cascade. He was not wearing a life jacket, Slaughter said.
Loney was part of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party and served in the Montana House from 2011-12. He later became an advocate for children and families as they engaged with the state’s child and family services agency.
“He was a man of faith, he was a Christian and there were certain things he loved, horses, the cowboy life, the cowboy creed and his family,” his wife, Cyndi Baker, told the Great Falls Tribune.