Norman Eugene Hobby, age 78 of Helena, Montana passed away peacefully on December 17, 2010 at his home surrounded by all of his family.<\/p>\n
Norman was born in Bainville, Montana on September 3, 1932 to Fred V. and Helen G. (Vannatta) Hobby.<\/p>\n
Norman was a wonderful and loving husband and father who adored his family and grandchildren and would do anything for a friend. <\/p>\n
Norman attended Bainville High School and graduated in 1950. Immediately following graduation he began attending Montana State University until 1953 when he decided to enlist in the military. For four years Norman served in the United States Coast Guard and traveled the Pacific Rim seeing Hawaii, Korea and Japan. His final year was spent in Cleveland, Ohio stationed at the Coast Guard 9th District Headquarters of the Great Lakes Region where he met the love of his life, Betty Peterson of Butte, Montana. Norman and Betty were married on December 28, 1957 in Butte then moved to Bozeman where Norman completed his degree at MSU in 1960. While attending MSU, Norman helped design the Danforth Chapel, the only church on campus. <\/p>\n
Following his graduation Norman and Betty moved to Helena where Norman began his career with the State of Montana in the Department of Transportation. He enjoyed working in the Highway Department designing bridges in the state; one of the many bridges he designed is the three span bridge on the way to Great Falls which crosses over I-90 just out of Craig. <\/p>\n
While at the Highway Department Norman was the first civilian to receive the Montana National Guard Commendation Medal; the states second highest award for a civilian for meritorious service. The citation stated his significant contribution to the guard\u2019s effort to establish a military training center near Glasgow Air Force Base by volunteering his professional expertise and personal time researching land and preparing proposals. <\/p>\n
Norman retired from the Department of Transportation as the Supervisor of the Utility Section in the Department of Right of Way for the state in 1993 so he and Betty could travel the states in their new motorhome. <\/p>\n
Norman enjoyed carpentry and designed and built the home in Helena where he and Betty raised their family. He also enjoyed hunting, skiing with his family at Big Sky, trips to the \u201ccabin\u201d to fish and relax with family and friends and traveling. One of his favorite times was a fishing trip to a remote area in Canada the only way in and out was by sea plane. <\/p>\n
Norman is survived by his wife Betty of Helena whom he was married to for 53 years, daughter and son-in-law Pam (Dan) Zimmerman of Port Orchard, Washington, daughter and son-in-law Gaida (Patrick) Sandru of Boise, Idaho and his two granddaughters, Annie Hobby of Bozeman who is following in her grandfathers footsteps and attending MSU and Aimee Dill. He is preceded in death by his father Fred, mother Helen, brother Arvid and sister Caryl. <\/p>\n
A Vigil Service will be at 4:00pm Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at Anderson, Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be 10:00am, Thursday, December 23, 2010 at the Saint Mary Catholic Community. Interment with military honors will follow at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery. A reception will be in the social center of the church immediately following the graveside service. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/294467_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/711","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=711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}