{"id":33096,"date":"2026-04-24T13:29:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/?post_type=case&#038;p=33096"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:20:15","slug":"vincent-g-pons-age-79-of-helena","status":"publish","type":"case","link":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/obituaries\/vincent-g-pons-age-79-of-helena\/","title":{"rendered":"Vincent G. Pons, age 79, of Helena"},"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":{"0":"post-33096","1":"case","2":"type-case","3":"status-publish","5":"entry","6":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"fields":{"first_name":"Vincent","middle_name":"Gregory","last_name":"Pons","date_born":"02\/19\/1947","date_died":"04\/23\/2026","age":"79","city":"Helena","state":"Montana","full_obituary_text":"<p>Vince passed away surrounded by family and loved ones on April 23, 2026 from complications of Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n<p>Born and raised in Bellville, NJ he excelled academically through St. Benedicts Prep. Georgetown undergraduate, Cornell Medical School, UCSF school of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health spending the majority of his career developing the Department of Infectious Diseases at University of California San Francisco along with longtime partner Dr. Richard Jacobs.\u00a0 It should be acknowledged that his future academic success could be attributed to an exorcism performed at Our Lady of Good Council grammar school after an incident involving an ink bottle and an attempted evasion?\u00a0 Reports on the success of the exorcism still vary.<\/p>\n<p>Vince\u2019s immediate family was small, sister Brenda took the brunt of his teasing but the rest of the Italian\/Spanish family was not spared.\u00a0 Summers with the cousins in the Poconos or the Jersey Shore were standouts.<\/p>\n<p>It was during his training years in San Francisco that he met Charlotte (Lotte) Hultman RN in the midst of crisis in the coronary care unit, It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship that lasted over 50 years, producing the apple of his eye, daughter Ali (Alexandra)<\/p>\n<p>In the early 1990\u2019s heart disease ended his time at UC but with the excellent care of the physicians at Cardiology Assoc. of Marin and the TAM program he found there was a full life to be enjoyed beyond the practice of medicine and enjoy it he did.<\/p>\n<p>Vince was a man who loved to laugh.\u00a0 He loved playing practical jokes, especially with his brother-in-law Barry.\u00a0 The two would often pretend to be food critics for Sunset Magazine when eating out much to the embarrassment of their children.<\/p>\n<p>Lotte had long standing associations with the state of Montana and with baby steps she introduced Vince to the wonders of life in the mountains.\u00a0 This included going up the hill to the outhouse, bathing in an old iron tub with a fire under it to heat the water, fishing and \u2026a golf course.\u00a0 As his appreciation for the great outdoors grew, a less Spartan existence presented itself and he became the proud owner of 20 acres on a river with a pond and indoor plumbing.<\/p>\n<p>If Vinnie had a love beyond his family, it was the game of golf.\u00a0 Some of his last hours were spent watching the Masters with his buddy of over 30 Member Guest tournaments Chris Speed.\u00a0 He christened himself \u201cDoctore Vincenzo Sandbaggio\u201d and those who are unclear as to the term \u201csandbagger\u201d ask one of the golfers.\u00a0 He was a man who loved to laugh.<\/p>\n<p>Vince is survived by his wife Lotte, daughter Ali, sister Brenda, nephew Rob, the Sgarrella\u2019s, cousins, and finally his faithful companion Sweetie Pie the cat who rarely left his side.<\/p>\n<p>A special thank you to the staff of St. Peter\u2019s Hospital especially the St. Peter\u2019s Hospice nurses and Drs. Gilbert and Kreisberg<\/p>\n<p>A celebration of his life will be held May 30, 2026 between 12-3pm, at Green Meadow Country\u00a0 Club, 2720 Country Club Ave. Helena, MT 59601<\/p>\n<p>In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Montana Outdoor Legacy attn: Montana Wild,\u00a0 PO box 845, Helena MT. 59624 or The American Heart Association.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Vincent-Pons-Obit-photo.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","service_status":"public","event_title1":"Celebration of His Life","event_date1":"2026-05-30","start_time1":"12:00 p.m.","end_time1":"3:00 p.m.","location1":"Green Meadow Country Club","address1":"2720 Country Club Avenue","city1":"Helena,","state1":"Montana","zipcode1":"","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\/33096","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=33096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}