Missouri man dies after being struck by falling rock at Glacier National Park

Kendrick Calfee, The Kansas City Star on Aug 14, 2026

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A family vacation last month turned to grief when a Kansas City man was seriously injured by a falling rock at Glacier National Park in Montana and later died at a hospital.

The family of Rex Schowengerdt, 72, shared their story on a GoFundMe page, describing the man as a beloved husband, father, brother and grandfather who loved to adventure, the outdoors and his family deeply.

Glacier National Park is in the northwest corner of Montana, near Kalispel. The park borders Canada and the spine of the Rocky Mountains.

Schowengerdt’s daughter Amy Prince said she got a call from her mother, Chris, on July 11. Prince said she remembered hearing her mom’s voice shake in the wind as she spoke about the accident, saying her father might not survive.

While riding in a hardtop Jeep on a popular scenic route, Going-to-the-Sun Road, a rock came through the roof and struck Schowengerdt on the head as his wife sat beside him, the GoFundMe said.

Park officials said last month that the incident happened just before 2 p.m. as a rock dislodged and fell off the cliffs at Rimrocks, a large cliff face just west of Logan Pass.

“(His wife) witnessed the entire heartbreaking moment, holding him through the horror of it all,” Prince said on the GoFundMe page.

The accident caused Schowengerdt to suffer a catastrophic brain injury, according to his family. He was flown from the mountain by helicopter to Logan Hospital.

After spending five days in the Intensive Care Unit, he died on July 16.

“Mom and I held his hand and my brother, aunt and uncle were nearby him,” Price said.

Price said that, before the accident, Schowengerdt was excited to return to Glacier National Park with his wife, sister and brother-in-law to visit places that were meaningful from previous family vacations in the park.

She said her father taught the family how to treasure the little moments and, “when you are in nature and looking at something beautiful, to look twice and cherish the moment.”

While the family has been coping with heartbreak, Price said one moment of comfort was getting a letter from World Vision that Schowengerdt’s organ donation helped save the vision of two people.

Schowengerdt’s death was the first of such fatality in the park since 2019, when a 14-year-old girl from Utah was killed and her family was injured after rocks fell in the same area, according to the National Park Service.

Another traveler on Going-to-the-Sun Road, Tsuyoshi Kamochi, 30, died when a rockslide crushed his car, according to a 1996 report by the Associated Press. Kamochi’s wife was injured in the incident.

Fatal rockfalls involving visitors to Glacier National Park are rare, but steep roads and changing weather can create risks, The New York Times reports.

The GoFundMe for Schowengerdt’s family says donations will go toward unexpected financial burdens after his death. The family hopes to honor his life with a memorial in his name.

“Our family is deeply grateful to everyone who prayed, to the rescuers, and to the ICU staff at Logan Hospital who cared for my dad,” Prince wrote on the fundraiser page.

“The photo of my mom and dad together (on the GoFundMe page), was taken moments before the accident happened,” she said. “He was happy. Thank you all for caring.”

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