Lealon Dewhitt "Dee" Montgomery

LEALON DEWHITT MONTGOMERY Graveside services for lifelong area resident Lealon DeWhitt "Dee" Montgomery will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14 at Burns Cemetery. Pastor Travis Randolph will officiate. Visitation has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Lealon DeWhitt Montgomery was born in Pleasant View, Colo. November 6, 1940 to J.P. and Celesta Montgomery. He passed away at his home in Egnar with his family by his side on Saturday, March 10, 2012, from a short battle with cancer. Dee was an avid fisherman and loved to go hunting. He liked to fish for catfish on the Dolores River at night. He bought a boat so he could fish on all the lakes in the area. He also had a four-wheeler he loved to ride. Dee would ride with anyone who would go with him, even his nurses. He especially liked to take his grandkids and the great-grandkids. The grandkids called Dee "Grumpy Pa," he got a chuckle out of that. Dee worked on the family farm, and then later worked in the mines. He also went on the wheat harvests in Oklahoma and Texas. Dee and his first wife, Beverly had two daughters, Connie and Lori. Later, he married Rhonda and they had two sons, Dwayne and Johnnie. Surviving Dee are his daughters, Connie Johnson of Roosevelt, Utah and Lori Montgomery of Cortez; his sons, Dwayne Montgomery and wife, ElDonna of Rifle, Colo., and Johnnie Montgomery and wife, Tina of Rifle, Colo.; his sisters, Gladys Fowler and husband, Elmer of Grand Junction, Colo., Reva Connally of Grand Junction, Colo., and Joan Gore and husband, LeRoy of Dove Creek; his grandchildren, Johnny Johnson and wife, Kristi of Salt Lake City, Utah, Chris Johnson and wife, Rhonda of Roosevelt, Utah, Katie Montgomery of Rifle, Colo., and Drake and Emma Montgomery of Rifle, Colo.; his great-grandchildren, John Van Johnson Jr. of Salt Lake City, Utah, Kaylee and Ryan Johnson of Roosevelt, Utah, and one coming in September; and a host of nieces, nephews, and cousins. Dee was preceded in death by his parents; by his brothers, Roy, Lindell and Ivan; and by his sisters, LaVerne Dudley and Faye Skidmore. Memorial contributions may be made in Lealon "Dee" Montgomery's name to the Egnar Fire Department, or to Hospice of Montezuma, or to the American Cancer Society.