Lee 'Wayne' Hunt, 93

Lee “Wayne” Hunt was born on April 23, 1922, in his father’s homestead cabin near Bay Horse, Powder River County, Montana, to Verl Leland Hunt and Ruth Irene (Watkins) Hunt.

He passed away in Kalispell on June 22, 2015, at the age of 93.

He grew up on the family ranch and was accustomed to hard work and independent living. Having gone through the Great Depression, he learned to be frugal and how to repair anything that needed repairing. Wayne learned how to entertain himself as there was no electricity or TV. He acquired the rural American trait of practical joking, a trait he had all his life — even trying to joke with the nurses who cared for him on his death bed. His family and friends have fond memories of playing cards, checkers and Yahtzee with him. And, of course, that homemade ice cream is still a family tradition!

Wayne graduated from Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming, in the spring of 1940 and then attended the Billings Business College for one year, studying accounting.

He enlisted in the Army Air Force on Oct. 14, 1942, in Butte and began active service on Feb. 17, 1943. He was trained as an aircraft instrument repairman and was also qualified as a sharpshooter (carbine), receiving an honorable discharge at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Feb. 1, 1946.

He had a lifelong passion for cars and airplanes and at an early age could correctly identify oncoming cars as to make and model, and could identify what kind of plane was flying overhead. He worked for the Chevrolet dealer in Billings while attending college there and became one of their top salesmen. Wayne obtained his private pilot’s license after leaving the service.

Wayne married Mona Lucille Hubbard in Gillette on Sept. 12, 1948. They purchased a ranch eight miles north of Powderville, Montana, where they ranched until 1968. There were benefits to being a pilot and a rancher — he was able to fly to his parents’ ranch to help them out when needed, fly his pregnant wife to Miles City to give birth, fly his children to school and he was able to save many hours of work by flying over the ranch to locate the cattle when it was time for roundup. Those airplane rides at the ranch were better than any carnival ride!

In 1968, they moved to Northwest Montana near Columbia Falls. He worked at Harlow Chevrolet for a time as service manager and then moved on to other work. Grandchildren enticed them to move to Bozeman where he started building and selling houses, moving back to Kalispell in the early ‘90s.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his older brother Warren Hunt, and daughter Linda Pearl (Hunt) Rea.

He is survived by his wife of almost 67 years, Mona; a son, Roger, and Paula; and daughter, Wanda Haugen, and Milt; 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

There will be a private family urn burial at Fairview Cemetery at a later date.