Burton E. 'Burt' Bondurant
Burton E. "Burt" Bondurant, longtime Flathead County resident, passed away Saturday, Jan. 29, 2005, at Brendan House in Kalispell.
Burt was born Sept. 27, 1929, in Kalispell, to Charles and Cleo Bondurant. Except for a year in California in 1939, and two years in Washington state, he spent his growing up years in Bigfork and Kalispell.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1946 and served in Colorado and Florida and New Jersey. Upon his discharge in 1949 he returned to Montana where he worked various jobs in ranching and pipeline construction.
He married Peggy McDonald in December 1950 and they made their home in Kalispell for a few years, working on Hungry Horse Dam.
In 1953 Burt moved his family to Missoula where he worked as a logger and independent log hauler. In 1968 he returned to Kalispell and spent 25 years trucking bakery products between Kalispell and Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
He retired in 1991 and was able to spend time with his family in the outdoors that he loved. Burt loved all things mechanical and knew at an early age that he would be a truck driver. He was especially fond of motorcycles and boats and loved to gather the whole family for camping trips to nearby lakes, especially Tally and Bitterroot, and combining backcountry trail rides with water skiing and boating. He took great pleasure in teaching young (and old) children to ride and ski. Thanks to him, a whole generation of young people has come to know and love the out of doors as he did.
Burt was preceded in death by his parents, Chuck and Cleo Bondurant; as well as his grandparents, Charles and Minnie Bondurant; and his wife of over 50 years, Peggy Bondurant.
He is survived by three sons, Michael of Spokane, Douglas of Wenatchee, Wash., and Chip of Kalispell; a brother, Ken, and his wife, Barb, of Denver; seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; and various nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, at Central Christian Church with the Rev. Jan Van der Poll officiating. Urn burial will follow at Glacier Memorial Gardens.
Buffalo Hill Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for the family.