John Timothy Flanagan, 63, of Helena, passed away Saturday of cancer at the Big Sky Care Center in Helena. A United States Army veteran, John fought a courageous, five-year battle with Mantel Cell Lymphoma.<\/p>\n
John was born on March 12, 1948, in Los Angeles, California, the son of John and Amanda Flanagan. Both parents preceded him in death by the time he turned 18 years old.<\/p>\n
John grew up in Los Angeles where he attended local schools. He received an associate\u2019s degree at San Luis Obispo Junior College and later received a certification in computer science.<\/p>\n
As Army SP4 Flanagan, he served in Korea at the DMZ in 1968 and 1969 There, he served as a water purification specialist in the Heavy Equipment Platoon of the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division.<\/p>\n
He worked as a building contractor restoring historic buildings and homes for many years in California before moving to Montana in 1991. In Helena, he restored Victorian homes, as well as the floor of the Montana Governor\u2019s Office in the Capitol. John was also known for his perfectionism and would painstakingly refinish everything from antique furniture to the windows of an historic barn.<\/p>\n
John had a great passion for hunting and fishing that began as a child when he would visit cousins at their ranch in Wolf Creek. He took many hunting trips with close friends and was fondly known as \u201csniper Flan,\u201d for his great marksmanship. He also enjoyed serving as gunsmith for all his friends who needed hunting rifles cleaned and repaired each year.<\/p>\n
John was a member of St. Helena\u2019s Cathedral Parish as well as the Helena Gun Club.<\/p>\n
John is survived by the Wirth family of Montana. He is also survived by his many friends. The family would like to express gratitude to all those who helped John through his extended illness including the doctors and staff at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Fort Harrison.<\/p>\n
John will always be remembered for his kindness and willingness to help his friends.<\/p>\n
A Liturgy of the Word will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, August 25, 2011 at Retz Funeral Home Chapel in Helena. Interment with military honors will follow at the Montana State Veteran\u2019s Cemetery at Fort Harrison. A reception will be held after the graveside service at the Brondel Center in the lower level of the Cathedral of St. Helena. To offer a condolence or share a memory of John, please visit: www.retzfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/1241705.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":"","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/23362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}