William Claude (Bill) Montgomery, Jr., 73, of Decatur, died Tuesday, July 15 at Decatur Morgan Hospital, after an extended illness.
Born on Monday, September 30, 1940, in Nashville, TN, Bill was the eldest son of the late W.C. (Monty) Montgomery, and the late Ernestine Barrow Montgomery. Bill had lived in Decatur since he was a child. At the time of his death he was a resident of Riverside Senior Living in Decatur.
Bill served in the Army two years during the Vietnam War, with time spent in Vietnam. He worked at the Princess Theater in the 1960s, but found his true vocation during his 20+ years at the Decatur Boys Club as Activities Director. He never married, nor had children of his own, but he considered the hundreds of boys he coached in baseball and basketball to be “his” boys. After he left the Boys’ Club, he became a scorekeeper for the Decatur Dixie Youth Central League (which closed in 2006). Between 1975–2006, he scored over 4000 games.
He is survived by his brother, Steven Montgomery of Huntsville, Steven’s wife Cyndia; his sister, Dianne Montgomery Lear of Oceanside, CA, and her husband Bob; niece Jessica Ehler, niece Lesley Hunter, and nephew Ryan Hunter; and several grand-nephews and a grand-niece.
Funeral services to be held on Saturday, July 19 at 2 PM, at Shelton Funeral Home in Decatur, with visitation for one hour preceding. Burial will be at Roselawn Cemetery.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to:
The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs of North Central Alabama
PO Box 1431
Decatur, AL 35602.
Mary Jean Fennell (Williams)
Although I did not know Bill that well, he always seemed to be a gentleman. Am impressed with his contribution to serving our country in Viet Nam. His time spent serving the Boy's Club is impressive. May his memory live on in the lives of those who knew him best.
Mary Jean Fennell Williams
Robert Bobby Hull
Bill's mother and father were good friends of my parents. They spent hours socializing together when I was a young teenager. Bill and I were thrown together from time to time as a result. Bill was very bright, but extremely shy, even with his friends. Over the years when I would infrequently see Bill, he grew into a less shy and committed man to his employer, the Boys and Girls Club of Decatur. Bill was a good man, and I regret that I did not get to know him better.
Peggy Scott (Van Bibber)
My last memories of Bill are from seeing him at Riverside whenever I visited my mom there. Once, when we had two of our grandchildren with us, Bill joined us at the dinner table for a little while. He always carried coins with him to share with children and our grandchildren were the excited recipients that day. He was indeed a kind and gentle man.
Richard Allen
Tommy Kullman was my best friend all through grammar school at Gordon Bibb and Bill was one of our best buddies. Believe it or not, Bill drew a comic strip as early as the third or fourth grade and he would entertain Tommy and me with the exploits of his super hero who was continuously zonking the bad guys; Germans, Japs, or monsters from space. I don't remember the hero's name, but I'll bet Tommy does. Bill also taught us how to play "Battleship" as it was originally intended--on a matrix you drew yourself with letters across the top and numbers down the side. We wasted many an hour drawing boxes and shooting at evasive ships.
Bill's father was the Manager of the Walgreen's Drug Store at the corner of Second Avenue and Johnston Street. One day, in the fourth grade, Bill came to school with traces of green stuff on his teeth, and we just thought his teeth had suddenly gone bad. Not so Bill explainded. His father had just come home from a meeting and brought home a new kind of toothpaste that contained chlorophyll, which we knew made plants green, but we did not know you could put it in your mouth. We thought Bill was crazy, but soon there were ads and radio commercials with jingles about the wonders of chlorophyll toothepaste and how it would save our teeth forever, and we were all using it. Later there was a toothpaste jingle with the line "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent. " I wonder where Bill's green went.
Bill was always big for his age and could have swatted me like a fly if I had ever provoked him, but I never saw him lose his temper. He was always gentle, polite, and like most of us, a little shy, especially around girls. Somewhere around the fifth or sixth grade we began to notice that Bill was a little different from the rest of us, not in a bad way, but just different. We could not have explained it to an adult if they asked us, but we just knew.
Sometime in the mid-fifties a Boy's Club was built on the west edge of the Gordon-Bibb campus, facing Second Avenue, and Bill found a home there, and really never left. He was so constant that before long he was treated like a member of the staff, and he helped teach, supervise, and keep the younger boys safe. It was no surprise to me when I later heard he was working there full time. And it was there he discovered weight lifting. Always big, Bill became quite strong but unless you knew him you would never know since he never bragged or tried to show off. His parents gave him his own set of weights and a bench for Christmas one year, and he invited me over to workout with him. Bill could press more with one arm than I could with two; embarrassed, I never went back(and never got all that strong).
After high school I did not see much of Bill, and after college and the Army, I did not see him again at all, and for that I am sorry. From what others have written, it is clear that Bill remained a gentle man and a gentleman throughout his life. If it is true that Bill marched to a different drummer, it is also true that he was never out of step. Richard Allen
Linda Clark (Boyd)
Bill was an interesting guy. In working with the Reunions, he loved his class and always wanted to be involved. When getting ready for our 40th he wrote me the most endearing note about something in his life. He had a girl friend, who was the love of his life. They had many good times together. She had cancer and died. He was so heart broken and he said he just could not come to the reunion without her. It was a lengthy note, wish I could remember all of it. That let me know he was a neat and loving guy.
For the 55th, he sent in his money for him and his new lady friend. His sister-in-law told me at his funeral that was one of the sadest things of his illness when he did not get to come. The sister- in-law also told me the lady friend was loosing her memory. Bill would have loved to been there for her.
The best memory of Bill is that he loved his classmates and all of the children he worked with. I asked his brother about the large collection of old car tags from many states and for the old T-Models, The brother told me he had in his pocesstion all of the ones Bill still had left. Some he had sold through the years.
We are blessed to have precious memories of our class mates and to be able to express them.
Sincerely, Linda Clark Boyd
Tommy Loggins
Richard said it well: . "If it is true that Bill marched to a different drummer, it is also true that he was never out of step." Bill and I were pretty good "buds" back in the day, I think because we shared many common interests. After graduation, we went our separate ways; he stayed in Decatur while I went off to AU, then put on the uniform for a while before drifting into the space program. I did not see him again until the 2009 reunion; we had a nice long talk and he seemed really interested in how my life had worked out. At the reunion last May, I missed seeing him . . . now I know why. RIP, old friend. You earned it.
Jerry Livingston
I was always tall for my age, not as much now, but Bill was not only taller but bigger in body and gentleness than the rest of us. I never heard him say anything unkind about anyone. He dedicated his life to working with the youth of Decatur. I wonder how many of those life’s he influenced for the better. He was indeed a gentle giant.