Hart, William J - 5/21/52 - 11/20/22

Bill, Billy, Dad, Papa Bill, Uncle Bill…lost his short fight with cancer on Sunday, November 20, 2022 in Lewistown, MT. He is happier now, with his wife, Lynne, lost friends, parents, and brothers. He and his great laugh will be missed dearly by his family and friends all over. His family would like to thank the hospice and nursing staff at Strawberry Roan Assisted Living in Lewistown for their excellent care over the past months.

Bill was born in Townsend, MT to Walt and Delores Hart and spent a lot of his youth growing up and working on his grandparents ranch in White Sulphur Springs, MT. He loved being outdoors - working, fishing, hunting, hiking, swimming, camping, just hanging out with family and friends. He was not afraid of new adventures or trying different things. He had a fun-loving spirit and everyone who knew him instantly liked him.

He grew up in Helena, MT attending Lincoln Elementary, Helena Junior High School and Helena High school where he was a talented gymnast, even competing in a meet on the rings with one broken arm in a cast! He met his first wife, Ethel Gunstone, in high school and they were married in 1970 in Helena, MT. He began his military life with the Marine Corps and a tour in Vietnam, then all over, including Okinawa, Japan where he learned a little Japanese (always said he would go back & live there!), San Diego at Miramar Marine Corps base and then to London, England where they were able to see so much, including Big Ben, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the white Cliffs of Dover and Stonehenge. He was always a very proud Marine, even wearing his dress blues to help walk his daughter, Joey, down the aisle at her wedding. He also was part of the Army National Guard Reserves.  After coming back to Helena, MT, he and Ethel divorced but he found a new love with Lynne Smith and they made a bigger family together with her six kids in 1982. They spent a lot of time together and he was always game for summer day trips to the lake, piling all the kids in the back of the truck with coolers, snacks and inner tubes for the water; and in the winter, loading up sleds and more inner tubes for sledding in the mountains - he always knew the best places to go and everyone always had a great time.

We always said he had nine lives because it seemed like he was always getting hurt or in situations that should have been much worse! He was working on a roof one time and lost his balance, the only thing keeping him from falling was the wedding ring on his finger catching on the edge. As a kid he was sledding with his siblings and hit a huge rock covered in snow, went tumbling head over heels and was buried in the snow - he just jumped up, brushing the snow off and grabbing his sled for another trip to the top of the hill. During a rafting trip one summer he almost drowned trying to save his little hibachi grill after his raft got a leak and sank on him. While on patrol on the Miramar base in San Diego, "Montana" Bill decided it would be fun to try to catch a rattlesnake. The snake had other thoughts though, and he was bit in the hand - he was lucky all he lost was his index finger! He kept that snake’s skin in a jar for years to tell that story over and over again. He always thought it was funny to say he could still count to ten with only 9 fingers - counting down on his fingers on one hand (10-9-8-7-6) and then the other 4 fingers was 10! Over the years he was hit by a drilling rig pole, struck by lightning while unloading a truck at Fort Harrison, and various other close-calls on the firing range near Townsend, MT. He was full of luck or someone was really watching over him. Even at the end of his life, with cancer taking over, he had a ‘whatever is going to happen will happen’ attitude and was smiling even on his last day being with his almost-twin sister (born exactly a year apart) and being able to talk to his girls to say goodbye.

Bill is now with his wife Lynne and her daughter Holly, his brothers Gary, Jim and sister-in-law Kelly, other family and lost friends. He will be missed greatly by his remaining friends from the Guard and around town, his daughters & their families - Joey (Tony) Carter, Lauri (Mike) Dalbec, Terri Smith, Melody Smith, Heidi Smith, Merrie (Britt) Volquardsen and Tim Smith. He will also be missed by his many grandkids, nieces and nephews from Montana to Texas to Hawaii! Bill was a unique guy who touched a lot of lives in his 70 years; he is probably listening to “Seasons in the Sun”, hanging out with his loved ones and having a smoke and a beer and watching over all of us. Cheers!

(Cremation has taken place, a service will be planned on the future).

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/william-j-hart/obituary/

Copy