Monte Dean Fertig

Our dearly beloved husband, father, papa and great-grandpa passed from this earthly realm on June 14, 2024.  Monte Dean Fertig was born to Alexander and Fern Fertig on December 23, 1938. He was born into a large German family of 12 children in Wheatland, Wyoming. Nine of those children grew to adulthood and oh! the stories they could tell!  At age 12 after his mother's passing, he worked odd jobs for neighbors with his favorite being a ranch hand for Bob and Julie Sturgeon on their ranch near Laramie Peak. He joined the National Guard at 17 and met his future wife at 19, but as she was a young lass of 14, he opted to leave Wyoming until she was of age to marry.  He joined the Marine Corps and was stationed at Twenty-Nine Palms, California where he served as a Drill Instructor and Rifle Coach. He excelled as a marksmanship coach for new recruits during his enlistment.  Once she was of age, and with her parents' consent, he married his love, Jayne Rizor, on her seventeenth birthday.  After their tiny wedding with only two witnesses, they headed back to Twenty-Nine Palms.  Monte Dean served in the Marine Corps Reserve upon his Honorable Discharge from the Corps and also attended Officer Candidate School.  He served a total of nine years in the Military. Monte Dean and Jayne were married just shy of 64 years, until his passing.  From that union came Monty of Cheyenne, Janea (Mike) Bruner of Coeur d Alene, ID, Kevin (Julie) of Rathdrum, ID, Julie (Bryan) of Cheyenne, Rebecca (Matt) of Sheridan, Wy, Derek (Amanda) of Casper, Wy, and an infant son who passed at birth.  Upon leaving the military, Monte Dean worked construction with his brothers all over the Dakotas.  He then moved the family to British Columbia, Canada.  There he homesteaded and worked as a bridge builder, and logger.  Upon returning to the States, he started Fertig Construction and built homes all over Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, and Ft. Collins, Colorado.  In 1972 he was involved in a near death experience from a plane crash and was in intensive care for 6 weeks.  He was finally released from the hospital after 3 months. He went on to Father two more children after his plane wreck, Rebecca in 1974 and Derek in 1981.  Not being one to sit idle, once he healed he finished his construction projects in Colorado and moved the family to Douglas, Wyoming, where he continued to build Fertig Construction. He built his sweetheart their dream home on the river, but with interest rates hitting 21 percent in the early 80's they were forced to leave their dream home and relocate to Cheyenne.  There he began again.  Framers Group and Fertig and Sons Construction was born.  He worked until his injuries from his plane wreck became unbearable and he was forced first into a walker, and then a wheelchair.  As a father, he was tireless.  He led church sponsored backpacks for young teens and their parents into the Big Horn mountains each summer from 1993 to 2003. He was the 'Old Man with the walking stick" and heaven help the teenager who didn't stay in line behind him. He was an avid outdoorsman, taking his own children and grandchildren hunting, fishing and floating the Platte River, with his sweetheart Jayne by his side.  Three meals a day were served around the family table with Friday Night dinners being especially sacred.  Dean was ordained an Elder in the Worldwide Church of God, and Friday night dinners was where he would discuss his upcoming sermons with his family.  Only a note from God would have been acceptable to miss that evening meal!  Attendance was also required at Church, Youth Group meetings and Bible Studies.  He was firm, but fair, and required more of himself than he did anyone else. Over the course of his illustrious life, he wrote a book and became a published author in 2022.  "A Fathers Heart" written for his descendants, became his magnum opus. In it he writes to his descendants of some of his hard learned lessons in life.  Quoting Monte Dean himself, "I lived a lifetime, proving the wisdom recorded by the ancients for our benefit.  The lessons of their triumphs and failures were intended for us and our children, to guide us toward the hope of a better future for all mankind.......My generation is witnessing and participating in the most amazing advances in technology in the history of mankind. I experienced adventures, not equaled in any generation from the beginning of time. I survived too many self-inflicted mishaps and miscalculations that taught me, through sorrow, the wisdom that only comes from involvement. I have stood on the mountaintop of triumph numerous times.  I reveled in the promises of God to humankind in an amazing overabundance.  But to do so, I had to trust the promises I found in the Word of God."  

Monte Dean was preceded in death by his parents, Alexander and Fern Fertig, his brothers George, Duane, Tommy and Calvin and twin infant sisters, Wilma May and Mary Jane, and his own infant son who died at birth.  He is survived by his wife Jayne, children, Monty, Janea, Kevin, Julie, Rebecca and Derek and their spouses, twenty-three grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren, his brothers Ray (Idonna) of Cheyenne, Sharel (Carol) of Elko, Nevada, and Larry of Wheatland, Wyoming, his sisters, Evelyn Casebier of Cheyenne, and Susie (Jack) Seiloff of Cheyenne, along with numerous nieces and nephews.

He was our patriarch, our leader and our guide. He cut a wide swath, and our hearts will never be the same.