Robert Milligan

COLUMBUS - Robert Milligan, 85, passed away peacefully Thursday morning, May 8, 2008, at the Stillwater Community Hospital. He was born April 20, 1923, the second of four children to Robert Senior and Ida Mae Milligan. Always a gentlemen and liked by all who knew him, Bob was "Mr. Sensible" and was always the one we could rely on to give the best advice.
He graduated from Billings High School in 1941 with the aspirations to become a lawyer. He moved to Washington, D.C. and attended Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. While in Washington, he worked for the FBI fingerprint bureau. World War II interrupted his schooling and he ended up serving in the U.S. Navy and the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific. While training to be a flight instructor with the Navy, he parachuted from 1,000 feet to safety after a mid-air collision with another plane on a training mission. Neither pilot was scratched in the mishap. He served in the South Pacific for 18 months as a flight crewman on C47s and C54s, flying to Australia, New Guinea, Biak and the Philippines. He flew troops into battle areas and the wounded out. There were occasional War Department VIPS and entertainers, including Jack Benny, Martha Tilton, Larry Adler, Carol Landis and Mrs. Douglas MacArthur. After the end of the war, he returned to work for the FBI in Butte.
With the help of his dad and uncle in 1947, he left the FBI to become the owner of Absarokee's hardware store. He split the hardware from the Stillwater Mercantile store, later to become known as Milligan's IGA. While living in Absarokee, Bob was President of the Rod & Gun Club, Vice President of the Jaycees and a scoutmaster. On the death of Robert Senior in 1948, Bob ran the grocery store and also the ranch near Nye. With the onset of all of these businesses at once, the Milligan family sold off the ranch and Bob sold the hardware store and brother Glenn and sister Dorothy ran the grocery store. It was then that Bob was able to get involved with ham radio and communications. In 1953, he went to work for Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Company and moved to Baker. In 1954, Bob married Pricilla Larson, who was Chief Operator for the telephone company, and in 1955, Dale was born. In 1956, the family moved to Billings; in 1960, Sidney; 1962, Miles City; 1973, Billings; 1976, Miles City; and in 1978, they moved to Helena, where Bob retired in 1983. Through the moves and development of the telephone company, he kept his ham radio hobby active always. W7PMN call sign is proudly displayed on the car license plates.
After retirement from the telephone company, Bob and Priscilla enjoyed golf, bowling, world travel and cruising the last several years before Priscilla passed away in 1989.
In 1983, Robert Milligan started his post-retirement career in real estate and worked in several Helena real estate offices and retired as a broker associate with Century 21 in 2002. In 1990, he met his companion and partner, Martha Jackson. Both being in real estate, they became a team, helping each other, and went on to travel and became snowbirds to the Bullhead City 55+ community of Longridge Park. Martha passed away in 2006 and in late 2006, Bob moved in with his son Dale in Columbus, where W7PMN's ham equipment flourished with a new radio and 60 foot tower that Dale and Bob assembled.
Bob is survived by a son, Dale of Columbus; a daughter, Leigh (Bob) Christian of Missoula; brother Glenn and his wife Helen of Billings; four grandchildren, four nephews and three nieces. He is preceded in death by his father and mother; sister Dorothy; brother Gerald; his wife, Priscilla; and companion of 16 years, Martha.
Robert Milligan is a 60-year member of amateur radio quarter century club and American Radio Relay League, a life member of Stillwater Lodge #62 AF & AM, Billings Scottish Rite Bodies, Al Bedoo and Algeria Shrine Temples, Telephone Pioneers of America, Caterpillar Club and Georgetown University Alumni Association.
Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Friday, May 16, at Smith Funeral Chapel in Columbus. Interment will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens in Billings.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to Shriner's Crippled Children Hospital, Spokane, WA., or the Transportation Fund, c/o AI Bedoo Temple, PO Box 20673, Billings, MT 59104, or to the charity of one's choice.

This obituary was originally published in the Billings Gazette.