John E. Walborn

Not many times in this day and age of computers and cell phones can we say a cowboy died with his boots on doing what he loved but that is exactly how John E. Walborn left us on Saturday, April 26, 2008. On his horse, roping calves, doing what he loved to do, where he loved to do it and with the people he loved to do it with.
John was born on Sept. 28, 1934, to Almon and Florence Walborn in Hardin. John, from an early age, was out riding horses and helping his dad run the family ranch east of Hardin. Riding horses and working cattle was a definite fit for John and, when the family moved to Livingston and started a ranch there, he was right alongside his dad and sisters working on the ranch.
John graduated from Park County High school in Livingston in 1953. To him, though, the bigger accomplishment of that year was winning the Bareback Competition in the Montana High School Rodeo and going to Sioux Falls, S.D., to compete in the National High School Rodeo. While not doing all that well, the trip was worth it to John. This also ignited John's love of rodeo, in which he competed for many years afterwards.
John always loved the outdoors. When he was young, if he wasn't out working, he was out hunting or fishing in the back country. One of the big hunting adventures John had in his life was a trip to Alaska to hunt Dahl Sheep. He talked about that trip often and still had the mount of his successful hunt. Even though John was a country boy, he did make a stab at living in and understanding the big city. John always liked to make the joke that he dug post holes in California for a couple of years (which was true enough description of what he did) and that was enough of the big city for him. His only regret about leaving the big city to come back to Montana to ranch and live in the Big Sky Country was leaving his son John T. behind.
After moving back to Montana, John started to ranch on the family place east of Hardin. He became involved in numerous community concerns and business organizations. Some of these past activities include, but are not limited to: President of the South Central Montana Pork Producers, President and Director of the Montana Pork Producers, Director of the National Pork Producers Council, Former Trustee of the then Yellowstone Boys Ranch, Director of the Big Horn County Memorial Hospital, Former Big Horn County 4-H Leader and County Fair Superintendent, Director of the Hardin Rodeo. He was active in his church, United Church of Christ E&R Church, as a choir director, elder and Sunday School Teacher. He also received an FFA Honorary State Farmer Degree in 1965 and was the first Montanan to be named Pork All American in 1971. While doing these things, he also taught his kids, Perri and Kirby, the love of the land, ranching and the value of hard work while continuing to run a successful business. Teaching his kids to overcome challenges and continue to achieve their objectives was important to him.
A challenge John took on at this time was politics when he successfully ran for the Montana Legislature and represented District One in the House from 1973 to 1974, the only annual sessions of the Montana legislature ever held.
John continued his service to his industry with his 32 years of Northern International Livestock Exposition (NILE) service, where he served on the Board of Directors and served as President of the NILE in 1999 to 2000. His goal with this organization was to bring agriculture and ranching to the youth in the community and helped in this with his yearly donation of a heifer calf to the NILE Merit Heifer Program.
Later in John's life with his wife and friend Diane, he took great comfort and warmth from having the great luck of living next to one of his kids, Kirby, and getting to know him and share in his life and the lives of some of his grandkids. In this day and age of families moving around and not living near each other, John understood what a great stroke of fortune it was for him to see some of his grandkids born and grow up and to be an integral part of their lives. One of the things John loved to do for his kids was set fireworks off on the Fourth of July. It didn't matter if they were his grandkids or the hired hand's kids, setting fireworks off for the "kids" was a great joy for him. We all knew who the fireworks were really for, but we all played along with him anyway.
John was preceded in death by his parents, Almon and Florence; a wife, Marlene Parker; a sister, Zena Wright-Ensign; and a wife, Diane Travis-Walborn. He is survived by his son, John (Kathy) Walborn of Chino, Calif.; daughter, Perri Walborn of Helena; son Kirby (Karmae) Walborn of Hardin; granddaughters, Courtney Walborn, Karmara Walborn, Kyra Walborn; grandson, Kohl Walborn; sisters, Jo Annette (George) Hammond of Hardin, Aldonna (Gerhart) Blain of Billings; and numerous nieces and nephews.
John's family invites you to attend a casual memorial service celebrating his life at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 3, at Smith Downtown Chapel, 925 S. 27th St., Billings.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Clinic, 50 27th St. West, Suite A, Billings, MT 59102.
What can one say about a man that has lived a long, full life? A man not too proud to admit his mistakes and understand how he and others can learn from them. All we can say is we love him and will miss him.

This obituary was originally published in the Billings Gazette.