John Michael Erickson left this world by natural causes and was welcomed into heaven by his Savior Jesus Christ on April 11, 2026.\u00a0 John was born January 28, 1956 in Pasadena, California to Vernon and Eleanor Erickson.\u00a0 He was the youngest of four siblings, Ron, Becky and Judy.<\/p>\n
John grew up in California until he was 15 when his family moved to Montana, where his dad had grown up.\u00a0 John always loved when their family visited Montana and when he was a young boy he told his sister Judy, \u201cSomeday I\u2019m going to live in the mountains of Montana\u201d.\u00a0 The day that his family arrived in Great Falls some of the guys from the church helped unload the truck and then asked John if he wanted to go camping.\u00a0 It was the beginning of his love for the outdoors and for Montana.<\/p>\n
John attended school in Great Falls for two years and then graduated from Hillcrest Academy in Fergus Falls, Minnesota in 1974.\u00a0 The fall of 1975 John went back to Fergus Falls, this time to attend Luthern Brethren Bible College.\u00a0 It was here that he met his best friend, a Canadian girl named Terry.\u00a0 After that year of school Terry went back to Calgary to work and John headed back to California where he worked at Hume Lake Camp for six months.\u00a0 It was there he became interested in Law Enforcement as several men from LAPD volunteered at the camp.\u00a0 He enrolled at a community college in Coalinga, CA to study Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n
After a two-year, long-distance relationship John and Terry were married in Calgary, Alberta on July 1st<\/sup>, 1978.\u00a0 After working on a farm close to Loma, MT for 5 months they moved to Great Falls.\u00a0 John\u2019s plans were to apply for the LAPD, but as they settled into life with lots of friends in Great Falls, the dream of living in California began to fade.\u00a0 John applied at the Great Falls Police Department and was hired in January of 1979.<\/p>\n In November of 1981 their first child Katie was born, followed by Jeremy in 1983.\u00a0 They enjoyed life in Great Falls and lived there until June of 1989.\u00a0 John resigned from the GFPD and they moved to the Dearborn Canyon where John became the director of Montana Wilderness School of the Bible and C-N Camp.\u00a0 John\u2019s dream of living in the mountains came into being.\u00a0 It was a wonderful adventure as about 1300 students attended MWSB and countless campers came to C-N Camp through the summers during the 24 years John and Terry lived there.\u00a0 The last 8 years in the Dearborn Canyon John became the part time pastor at the Augusta Community Church.\u00a0 The fall of 2012 John retired from MWSB and became the full time Pastor of Augusta Community Church and the Dearborn Chapel.<\/p>\n John loved his family and was so proud to become a grandpa.\u00a0 Camping, backpacking, hunting and drinking coffee with his kids and grandkids were some of his favorite forms of recreation.\u00a0 Many trips to Belgrade and Lethbridge were made to take in events of his family\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n John often said \u201cSudden death, sudden glory\u201d.\u00a0 The reason he could say that confidently is because he believed what the Bible said through the Apostle John in 1 John 5:13 \u201cThese things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know<\/strong> that you have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 John\u2019s sole purpose in life was to teach God\u2019s Word so that others could know the truth of what Jesus did for everyone of us.<\/p>\n John is preceded in death by his parents and a brother. He is survived by his wife Terry, daughter Katie (Kenny), son Jeremy (Chantelle), grandchildren Lydia, Kai, Dane, Jax, Remy and Addy, a brother Ron, sisters Becky (Jerry) and Judy (Jim), six nephews Mike, Matt, Steve, Sam and Joe, David and nieces Sonya and Erin and many cousins.<\/p>\n Funeral services will be held at 11:00 on Saturday, April 25th<\/sup> at the Augusta High School.\u00a0 Memorials will be given to the MWSB scholarship fund or the Augusta Community Church building fund.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Erickson-John.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","service_status":"public","event_title1":"Celebration of His Life","event_date1":"2026-04-25","start_time1":"11:00 a.m.","end_time1":"","location1":"Augusta High School","address1":"410 Broadway","city1":"Augusta","state1":"Montana","zipcode1":"59410","event_title2":"","event_date2":"","start_time2":"","end_time2":"","location2":"","address2":"","city2":"","state2":"","zipcode2":"","event_title3":"","event_date3":"","start_time3":"","end_time3":"","location3":"","address3":"","city3":"","state3":"","zipcode3":"","event_title4":"","event_date4":"","start_time4":"","end_time4":"","location4":"","address4":"","city4":"","state4":"","zipcode4":"","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\/33032","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=33032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}