George Carrol Dalthorp
George Carrol Dalthorp died on March 15, 2011. He had a good life and died a happy man. Early on, however, it was a much harder life than most people can now imagine.
August 7, 1929, was a hot afternoon in southern Wibaux County, Montana. H.C. “Charlie” Dalthorp was in the field cutting wheat with a binder when his wife, Clara, summoned him to take her to town. Their baby was born shortly thereafter. The owner of the hardware store, whose name happened to be George, told Charlie he would furnish the boy with cigars until he was six years old if they named him George. So, George it was.
They went back to the farm where they lived with George’s older sisters, Helen and Charlotte. They had no running water or electricity. They didn’t need those luxuries because they had kerosene lamps and a two-hole outhouse out back. They pumped water out of the well and carried it to the house in buckets. A coal bank a half mile away supplied the fuel for the cookstove and the heater in the livingroom. The telephone broke just as the depression hit in 1929, and it was never fixed to George’s recollection. They must not have needed it.
The Dalthorps kept the family fed with eggs from their chickens, milk from their cows, and a large garden. The drip below the pump and the used household water were used to water the garden. The wheat crop was not too good during the Great Depression. They made it through those hard times by skimming cream from the milk and selling it along with the extra eggs. They also had a few pigs.
They started every meal with the same prayer: “We thank thee Lord for these thy gifts and ask thy blessings upon us. For Jesus sake, Amen.” A nice prayer, George thought, so he carried on the tradition when he raised his own family.
The funny thing is that George never knew they were poor when he was growing up. During the summer, they even got to spend a nickel on ice cream once a month after church.
Time passed, and George graduated from college and served in the Navy in the early 50's. His service in the Navy was quite significant to him. During the 60's he showed his family and friends slides of ships so frequently he and family would frequently jest: “Do you want to see some ship pictures?”
After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he needed something to do. He was going to move back to Wibaux to start a beet farm, but he got side tracked when a friend talked about going to law school. He thought that sounded like an adventure so he decided to go along.
George and his best friend Leroy Amunrud had a friendly ongoing rivalry centered on grades and basketball while growing up. Leroy got married first. George met Lois Mattson at a wedding when her sister, Doris, married Leroy in 1950. George ended up marrying Lois in 1956, while he was still in law school. Ironically, Leroy died six days before George.
After clerking for United States District Judge William J. Jameson, George got a job at a law firm that is now known as Crowley-Fleck. He worked for the firm for ten years, after which he became a partner and worked there for another forty years or so. Throughout his legal career, he received numerous honors for his leadership, ethics, professionalism, and legal ability. To George, however, the relationships he had with his partners, coworkers, and other attorneys with whom he worked were far more important than the honors.
Lois and George raised four children, David (Laura Erikson) Dalthorp, Kris (Dave) Jones, Beth (Todd) Johnson, and Dan (Lisa Madsen) Dalthorp, in Billings. They have 12 grandchildren, Thor, Britta and Sonja Jones, Christy, Jay, Sarah, and Julie Johnson, Cal, Lane, and Ella Mullen, and Matt and Mark Dalthorp. David now lives in Helena, Kris in Kodiak, Beth in Minneapolis, and Dan in Albany, Oregon.
George led an active and healthy life. When he was younger, George played handball, golfed, and skied. He quit all of them for a few years, but he started playing golf and racquetball in the 80's and continued playing through 2010. He started skiing again in 1999 and skied for about six years until his ski partner died. He ate an orange nearly every day of his adult life and insisted that is why he never caught a cold, except when he was in Russia for a time and couldn’t get oranges.
George loved the outdoors, and he especially loved hiking in the Beartooths. Some of his best times were spent backpacking and hiking with his family and friends. One of his favorite spots, other than the cabin at East Rosebud, were a beautiful waterfall George “discovered” in 1973 on Hellroaring Creek on the way down from the great race up Butcher Mountain. Another was Whitetail Peak above Quinnebaugh Meadows. On his 65th, and again on his 70th, birthday he hiked 26 miles over the top of the Beartooths from Cooke City to East Rosebud in one day. From 1970 until he could no longer do it, he took some or all of his family backpacking and hiking every summer. His last backpack trip was to Mystic Lake in 2007, but he continued to take friends to the waterfall for a couple of years after that.
George also enjoyed going to his relatives’ ranch near Lodge Grass every other year for Christmas. Sometimes there were up to seventy people there. Activities included ice skating, or hay rides and sledding when there was snow, shooting clay pigeons when there wasn’t, and playing pinochle always.
George was active in and maintained a great many friends through Yellowstone Kiwanis, Friendship Force, Rural Employment Opportunities (REO), and Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. There are numerous organizations George would like supported in his name. A few that come to mind are Special K Ranch, P.O. Box 479, Columbus, Montana 59019, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard, 1108 24th Street West, Billings, Montana 59102, and Montana Justice Foundation, P.O. Box 9169, Missoula, Montana 59807.
A memorial service will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd at 1:00 on Monday, March 21st, with a reception and open microphone to follow in the basement of the church. A military honors ceremony and internment will be held at 11:15 in Mountview Cemetery, 1704 Central Avenue. George will be buried in plot # D23. On Sunday March 20th, a viewing and/or visitation with the family will be held from 2:00-5:00 at Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary, 1001 Alderson Avenue, Billings, Montana. Feel free to attend any or all of these events.
Remembrances
Please leave your name and remembrance in this public guest book. Your comments will be shared on this page and forwarded to the family.
To the
family and in particular, Kris & Dave:
Please know I am thinking of George today after having read the obituary
with a fond smile. George was a classic. A wonderful lawyer, but always
a nice person in addition to being a great lawyer. He and I worked
together and also in opposition several times and I enjoyed every phone
call. You are all in my thoughts as you go through the funeral and
events associated. It is a very hard time, but also hopefully one where
many people will share with you how wonderful George Dalthorp, the man,
really was.
Laura Christoffersen
Christoffersen & Knierim, P.C.
Lois
& Family:
I was so sorry to hear of George's passing. What a wonderful Obit!
George was truly one of a kind and a terrific lawyer and role model.
George - always a smile on his face and bringing smiles to all those
around him. The loss is great but the memories are wonderful.
My prayers are with you all.
Bruce