Martin W. Perga
Martin W. Perga died on May 30, 2009 at the Advanced Care Hospital of Montana in Billings, Montana. He was born on June 15, 1938 in Butte, Montana. He attended Butte Public School and graduated from high school in 1956. He worked in the mines in Butte and he was working underground during the 1959 earthquake. At the same time, Martin attended Montana State College in Bozeman, Montana, graduating in 1960 with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. While in college, he was the editor of the student engineering magazine, a member of Pi Kappa Delta National Forensics Society, and spent three years in competition debate and public speaking.
From 1960 to 1970, Martin was employed by Universal Oil Products in Des Plaines, Illinois as a Project Engineer and Start-up Operator on new units both within the United States and overseas. He also did research in the area of catalytic mufflers for cars for a number of years.
In November of 1970, Martin became employed as an engineer with Farmers Union Central Exchange Co-op (Cenex, now CHS, Inc.) in Laurel, Montana. While employed there, he held the positions of a Project Engineer, Chief Process Engineer, Manager of Maintenance and Construction, and Manager of Environmental Health and Safety. Martin was a versatile engineer who capably handled a multitude of engineering and design functions for CHS. In his spare time he loved to hunt and he once went on a bear hunting trip to Russia. He retired from his position at CHS, Inc. in 2004.
Martin was preceded in death by his parents, Benedict and Ruby Perga, and his brothers, Andrew and David.
He is survived by his sons, Andrew Howard Perga and Vladimir Alexander Perga. The memorial service will be conducted at Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary on Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Butte, Montana on Monday, June 8th at 1 :00 p.m. Memorial gifts may be sent to a charity of your choice in Martin Perga's name.
Remembrances
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Our sympathies to you Andrew and Val. Marty was a unique individual and I always so enjoyed visiting with him from the time he first moved to Joliet. His stories will be missed.
June and Dick Lohof
Marty certainly was a good engineer who could tell a story with a dry sense of humor and enjoyed a good prank once in a while. I am sorry to hear that he passed away. I remember how well he understood the process of a refinery and how improvement of the that process was always on his mind.
The stories about hunting were especially good because Marty added a lot of color and detail to the hunt.
I wish you, his family the blessing of peace as you mourn the loss of Marty.
Roy Close
My deepest sympathies to Andrew and Val. You are in my thoughts.
Scott Billingsley
As a neighbor of Martin's for 30 years, we enjoyed his remarkable memory of the area and our sons enjoyed visiting with Martin when they hung out with Andrew and Val at the house. Martin always told a good story with a twinkle in his eye. Our condolences to Val and Andrew.
Lisa and Jim Gruber