George Francis Melton, 89, took his final trip of his life in the morning of April 14, 2011 after a courageous battle with pneumonia. Never one to let the dust settle on his boots or to miss a good party, George treated his passage to Heaven as another great adventure, more akin to a long-delayed reunion with the many friends and family that passed before him than as an ending to his time here on earth. George left this earth with a strong faith in the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, which fueled an amazing spiritual strength and energy that grew exponentially just as his mortal body failed him here on earth. <\/p>\n
George grew up in Dillon in the Beaverhead Valley and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. George returned to Dillon upon completion of his service to his country and married Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Cantrell, on July 25, 1948. George and Betty shared a love of children and had 9 of them, each of whom are two years apart. George and Betty later divorced after 33 years of marriage but always maintained a life-long kinship borne of their shared experiences in raising their children together. <\/p>\n
George\u2019s partiality to his children\u2019s abilities was obvious, hilarious, and even, at times, embarrassing. But just by expressing it, he gave us all the spark of belief that we were fully capable of doing just about anything we decided on. He expressed himself through quiet and effective service to those around him. From fixing his kids fishing poles on the spot from willow wands, line and safety pins, to carpentry big and small, working on cars, instructing how to take a lawnmower apart in his 80\u2019s, he was the go-to guy. His many skills were amplified by his generosity and enjoyment in applying those skills to help those around him whenever he found someone in need. <\/p>\n
George was preceded in death by his parents James and Anna, brothers Jim, Chester, and Johnny and grandson Nick Melton. George is survived by his sister Mary Dastyck (husband George of Tucson); former wife and continued friend Betty Melton of Missoula; daughters Marianne Vigeland (husband Tor and children Elizabeth and Andrew) of Missoula, Viki Melton (children Luke (wife Crystal and children Kaleb and Kaden), Reese (wife Rita and children June and Emmett), and Mesquite) of Darby, Lisa Palazzi (husband Dave and children Jake and Fiona) of Olympia, Washington, Tina Melton (children Arliss, Tess and Ryan) of Missoula, and Tammie Jones (husband Brent and children Zach and Gabe) of Helena; sons Douglas Melton (son Cody (wife Pam and son Joel), wife Holly and stepchildren Sidney, Lilia and Sophia) of Helena, Lance Melton (wife Cynthia and daughter Bella) of Helena, Sean Melton (wife Jenet and children Ethan, Trey, and Mia) of Helena, and Skye Melton of Seattle, Washington; and friend Vi Ellington of Huntington Beach, California. <\/p>\n
George always took pride in his status as a third generation Montanan and carried a lifelong love of the beautiful Beaverhead Valley in his heart to the very end when he talked about going to his father’s cabin south of Dillon one more time in the last days of his life. We know he is there now, fly-fishing with a Joe\u2019s Hopper on the Beaverhead River with his Dad by his side. <\/p>\n
A memorial service in George\u2019s honor will be held on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at the Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 East Broadway, Helena, with Pastor David Andersen presiding. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/363790_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\/804","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=804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}